Matty Healy defends ‘performative’ Malaysia kiss with The 1975 bandmate in lengthy speech
Healy noted the “liberal outrage” the on-stage bit caused, labelling it as “puzzling”
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has once again addressed the incident which got the group to banned from playing in Malaysia.
Back in July, Healy shared kiss with bandmate Ross MacDonald at Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before performing crowdpleaser ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’.
Around half an hour later, the band walked off stage. The lead singer announced: “All right, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, see you later.”
The group subsequently found themselves banned from playing in Malaysia, and also got the next two days of the festival shut down.
At the time, the stunt caused a mixed reaction, including from some local LGBTQ+ people, who condemned the band’s actions.
“Unfortunately, there’s so many incredibly stupid people on the internet that I’ve just cracked” – Matty Healy
Now, Healy has given a lengthy speech during a gig in the US this week, where he made his thoughts on the issue very clear.
He introduced the topic by telling the Dallas crowd they’d “drawn the short straw.”
Healy began: “You’ve gotten the show where I’ve genuinely stopped caring. And, ah you see, this show has kind of bled off the stage into loads of different environments, and I don’t mind hollow shallow accusations of being racist or stuff like that, it kind of allows the show to do what its designed to do – expose inconsistencies and hypocrisies, I use myself to do that.”
Going to talk at length about the ban’s controversial gig in Malaysia, he said: “It has nothing to do with you guys, but unfortunately there’s so many incredibly stupid people on the internet that I’ve just cracked. Everyone keeps telling me you can’t talk about Malaysia, don’t talk about what happened in Malaysia, so I’m gonna talk about it at length.”
“The 1975 did not waltz in Malaysia unannounced. They were invited to headline a festival by a government who had full knowledge of the band with its well publicised political views and its routine stage show.
“Malaysian festival organisers’ familiarity with the band was the basis of our invitation.”
He went on to add that the kiss with McDonald was “not a stunt simply meant to provoke the government”.
Healy explained: “It was an ongoing part of the 1975 which has been performed many times prior.
“Similarly we did not change our set that night to play, you know, pro-freedom of speech or pro-gay songs.
“Malaysian festival organisers’ familiarity with the band was the basis of our invitation”
“To eliminate any routine part of the show in an effort to appease the Malaysian authorities’ bigoted views of LGBTQ people would be a passive endorsement of those politics. As liberals are so fond of saying ‘silence causes violence, use your platform’ so we did that.”
In Malaysia, homosexuality is illegal, and being involved intimately with someone of the same sex can result in fines, or prison sentences up to 20 years.
There are currently no rights for LGBTQ+ people in Malaysia. In 2023, the Global Trans Rights Index ranked Malaysia as the second worst in the world in terms of transgender rights.
Healy addressed the “liberal outrage” the on-stage bit caused, labelling it as “puzzling.”
“Lots of people, liberal people, contended that the performance was ‘an insensitive display of hostility against the cultural customs of the Malaysian government, and that the kiss was a performative gesture of allyship’.
“To start the idea of calling out a performer for being performative is mind-numbingly redundant as an exercise. Performing is a performer’s job. The stage is a place for artists’ expressions which are inherently dramatised. That’s why people go to fucking shows.”
“Other people, other apparent liberal people, contended that the kiss itself was a form of colonialism. That the 1975 in the rich tradition of evil white men past, was forcing its Western beliefs on the Eastern world.”
He added: “Those who took to Twitter to voice their outrage over the 1975’s unwillingness to cater to Malaysian customs, would find it appalling if The 1975 were to acquiesce to let’s say Mississippi’s respective bullshit trans laws.
“The idea that it’s incumbent upon artists to cater to the local sensitivities of wherever they are invited to perform sets a very dangerous precedent.”