The 1975’s Matty Healy made a powerful statement at Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival, criticizing the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws and its government. Healy’s bold move resulted in the remainder of the festival being cancelled, along with the band being banned from performing in Malaysia.
The show was cut short two songs after Healy’s statements, and the Kuala Lumpur festival released an official statement saying that the set was stopped due to “non-compliance with local performance guidelines”. Malaysia’s communications minister later met with festival organisers Future Sound Asia and ordered the rest of the festival cancelled. Good Vibes Festival then issued an official statement confirming the cancellation due to Healy’s “controversial conduct and remarks”.
The festival organisers said they had been “reassured” by The 1975’s management prior to the show that Healy and the band “would adhere to local performance guidelines”, but were “taken by complete surprise”. The 1975’s management commented that “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and community”.
Healy responded to the news on Instagram, sharing the festival’s cancellation statement and writing: “Ok well why don’t you try and not make out with Ross for 20 years. Not as easy as it looks.” The band’s actions resulted in Malaysia’s Central Agency for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (Puspal) banning them from performing in the country and filing a police report against the artist and festival organisers.
The communications minister described Healy’s actions as “very uncouth”, and said that there will be “no compromise with any party that challenges, belittles or violates Malaysian laws”. The 1975’s set was due to be followed by headliners The Kid LAROI, The Strokes, Ty Dolla $ign, Porter Robinson, Lee Hi, and DPR LIVE & DPR IAN, but the festival was cancelled due to Healy’s brave move.
Good Vibes Festival said the cancellation was a “catastrophic financial blow” for the company and would “definitely” have wider repercussions. The festival said it is “committed to learning from this experience and taking necessary steps to reinforce communication with artists and their management teams”, and will update ticketholders on “refund mechanics as soon as possible”.
Leave a Reply