Concertgoers in Malaysia have a lot of thoughts about Matty Healy right now!
ICYMI, the 34-year-old singer and his band The 1975 were playing at the Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia on Friday. However, their set ended early when Matty revealed he almost canceled the show due to the country’s anti-LGBT laws. He said at the time:
“I don’t see the f**king point… of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have Sex with. I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious… but your government are a bunch of f**king r*******. I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the f**king mood. Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m f**king furious. And that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government.”
Related: Matty Says He Got It ‘Wrong’ While Addressing Controversial Remarks
Although the controversial artist dropped out of the show on Thursday, he decided to get on stage anyway. Following his speech, he walked over to bassist Ross MacDonald and kissed him to protest the strict anti-LGBT laws. Good on him for standing up for the LGBTQ+ community! However, it wasn’t long after that the band left the stage since they were banned from Kuala Lumpur.
And unfortunately, the rest of the performers booked for the event were not able to take the stage following The 1975’s set. Because the government canceled the festival in response to Matty and Ross’ liplock! Good Vibes Festival issued a statement on Saturday, saying:
“We deeply regret to announce that the remaining schedule of the Good Vibes Festival 2023, planned for today and tomorrow has been canceled following the controversial conduct and remarks made by UK artist Matty Healy from the band The 1975. This decision adheres to the immediate cancellation directive issued … by the Ministry of Communications and Digital. The Ministry has underlined its unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule, or contravene Malaysian laws.”
Although you’d think Matty would receive a ton of praise, that hasn’t been the case. He’s actually faced a ton of criticism on social media! Many have called him out for doing nothing more than a performative stunt and potentially making things “worse” for the queer community in Malaysia, writing on Twitter:
“Please read this. I’m the first to say our laws are shite, cruel and must change, but what Matty Healy did was performative, selfish & straight up endangers the lives of queer Malaysians who have to deal with the fallout while he gets to jet off & forget about the whole thing.”
“There are ways to fight for causes/ activism but this is not it. 1975 is rich and doesn’t care if they get banned. Same can’t be said for GVF employees & small vendors who invested a lot into the event And local tourism and music industry players who’ll get caught in crossfire.”
“As a malaysian queer, what matty healy and the 1975 did was WORSE for malaysian queers. Now we are gonna have tolerate the political shitstorm thats about to happen while they are fine getting drunk in another country. This wasn’t their fight”
“this is singlehandedly pushing back any progress queers in malaysia could have made in the past century. this is purely performative activism and the 1975 have no idea that what they did is the worst thing that could happen to us”
“Matty and his bandmates are all rich white men who LOSE NOTHING by doing what they did. At most? They lose listeners from Malaysia and earn a little bit less now. They have no actual notable consequences for their speech and stunt. None.”
Other social media users pointed out how his actions will potentially make it harder for concertgoers in Malaysia to see shows moving forward:
“Wow, thanks a lot, The 1975. You have officially made it very difficult for Malaysia to have anymore international concerts.”
“malaysians going to sleep tonight knowing that the 1975 controversy will be politicized to death & it’ll be harder for foreign artists to perform in our country after this”
It wasn’t all hate directed toward Matty. There were some folks who praised and defended him – noting that it’s the fault of the “homophobic government” that the festival was concealed:
“Matty Healy did NOT cancel the festival. The homophobic GOVERNMENT threw a tantrum and cancelled the festival themselves”
“Harsh of the Malaysian Government to cancel the WHOLE of the Good Vibes festival as a stance against Matty Healy Kissing Ross @the1975 ..”
“Seeing the 1975 be banned from Kuala Lumpur because of their protests against the governments anti-LGBT laws, then seeing many people side with the fucking Malaysian government because of the disdain for Matty Healy. and im a bit upset about it!”
“The 1975 went on stage at goodvibes festival Malaysia kissed each other to make a statement to the government and got banned idk about You guys but that’s ICONIC.”
So what does Matty have to say about this situation? Well, he doesn’t seem to be upset about receiving flak on social media! The hitmaker took to Instagram Stories to react to Good Vibes Festival’s cancellation, writing in a since-deleted post:
“Ok well why don’t you try and not make out for Ross for 20 years. Not as easy as it looks.”
Matty Healy reacts to the Good Vibes festival in Malaysia getting cancelled as a result of his remarks against the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws and making out with his bandmate on stage:
“Ok well why don’t you try and not make out with Ross for 20 years. Not as easy as it looks” pic.twitter.com/LyiIaWSXl7
— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 23, 2023
What are your thoughts on the matter, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via WENN/Avalon]