Pop rock band The 1975 has been sued over a Malaysia concert where frontman Matty Healy kissed a male bandmate onstage — an act punishable by up to 20 years behind bars in the staunchly homophobic southeast Asian country.
Organizers of the Good Vibes Festival in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur — a three-day event which was cancelled over the kiss — sued the band over breach of contract and damages worth $2.4 million in lost revenue, according to the BBC.
Despite previously performing at the festival in 2016 and being warned numerous times about local law ahead of time last year, festival organizer Future Sound Asia alleged The 1975 decided to “act in a way that was intended to breach guidelines” at their July 2023 performance.
During that show, Healy paused to explain how the band considered skipping the festival in protest of Malaysia’s anti-gay laws but decided they didn’t want to let down fans.
“I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool,” the 35-year-old said, swigging from a bottle of wine. “We said, ‘You know what? We can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government.’”
“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,” he said, dropping a few more F-bombs about the Malaysian government.
Healy then walked over to 35-year-old bassist Ross MacDonald and planted a kiss on his mouth, and the band was promptly booted from the stage.
The festival was cancelled the next day, with the Malaysian government saying they had an “unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule or contravene Malaysian laws.”
In addition to violating Malaysia’s homosexuality laws, Future Sound Asia accused Healy of violating festival policies by swearing, drinking alcohol, and talking politics onstage.
The band told the BBC “they have nothing to add at this time” about the lawsuit, but previously hit out at the festival’s reaction.
“The 1975 did not waltz [into] Malaysia unannounced, they were invited to headline a festival by a government who had full knowledge of the band with its well-publicized political views and its routine stage show,” Healy said at an October concert in Dallas.
“Me kissing Ross was not a stunt simply meant to provoke the government. It was an ongoing part of The 1975 stage show, which had been performed many times prior,” he said.
“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.”
