The 1975 have been sued in the London courts by the promoter of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival over the incident last year where comments made on stage by the band’s Matty Healy resulted in the rest of the event being cancelled by the Malaysian authorities.
Healy broke the strict rules that govern live performances in Malaysia by speaking out about the country’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Promoter Future Sound Asia was immediately critical of The 1975 frontman following the incident, stating that the band were fully aware of the rules and had promised the festival organiser that they would abide by them.
According to Variety, the lawsuit provides more detail about the rules that were broken, and summarises events before and after The 1975’s performance at the festival.
In the middle of his on-stage criticism of Malaysia’s record on LGBTQ+ rights, Healy kissed bandmate Ross MacDonald on the mouth.
Future Sound Asia says that rules set by the Malaysian government agency that approves performances by foreign artists, known as PUSPAL, include the prohibition of kissing on stage, including “kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions” between performers.
The promoter claims that, as part of a deal that saw the band paid $350,000, Healy and his bandmates agreed to abide by the rules. PUSPAL initially declined permission for The 1975 to play the festival, but the band appealed and again agreed to follow all the local regulations, resulting in approval being granted.
Apparently the band had a change of heart about performing at the festival the day before they were due to play, presumably – in part at least – because of concerns over Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws. However, they ultimately decided to go ahead with the show, but with a different setlist and the planned on-stage protest. Which means, according to the promoter, Healy’s on-stage comments were not spur of the moment and had, in fact, been planned.
Healy told his audience, “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the fucking point, right, I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with”.
He then kissed bassist MacDonald and added: “I am sorry if that offends you and you’re religious and it’s part of your fucking government, but your government are a bunch of fucking retards and I don’t care anymore. If you push, I am going to push back. I am not in the fucking mood, I’m not in the fucking mood”.
The lawsuit criticises other aspects of Healy’s conduct during his set, including allegations that the musician smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol, acted in a “drunken way”, “spat excessively”, including towards the audience, and deliberately damaged a video drone.
It was the speech and kiss that prompted PUSPAL officers to stop the performance. Future Sound Asia claims that Healy was “very aggressive” towards the officers, swore at them and others, and ultimately had to be restrained by his managers.
The 1975 left Malaysia as soon as possible after the incident, meanwhile Future Sound Asia had its licence for the remaining two days of the festival revoked. Which meant many other artists couldn’t perform and vendors at the festival were out of pocket.
Public opinion was very divided about Healy’s conduct last summer, even among people who very much agree with the sentiment of his message.
Some argued that it was important for Healy to speak out about the lack of LGBTQ+ rights in Malaysia, though some LGBTQ+ rights campaigners within the country reckoned his speech had done more harm than good to the wider cause.
Some also expressed concern that local artists and vendors lost money, and argued that Healy should have found a way to protest that didn’t impact on local people in that way.
Future Sound Asia wants damages to cover its losses that stemmed from Healy’s speech and the resulting cancellation of its event.