It’s been a few months since the Good Vibes Festival incident. To recap, the 3-day music festival got cancelled after the frontman of the show’s headliner The 1975, Matty Healy made a controversial political statement among other things.
Many, including other performers, were rightfully angry at the UK singer for causing so much trouble for everyone involved in the festival. The band hasn’t talked about the stunt they pulled in Malaysia throughout their world tour until very recently.
what else is twitter blue for pic.twitter.com/TkjWTbnFHN
— emily (@emilyxinfinity) October 10, 2023
Yesterday (Tuesday, 10th October), The 1975 performed at their concert in Dallas, Texas, United States and at one point during the show, Matty Healy delivered a pre-prepared speech to address the incident in Malaysia. The singer first clarified that kissing his band member was “not a stunt to simply provoke the Malaysian government” as they’ve always done it as part of their performance over the years.
He then told the Dallas crowd that the event organiser should not expect the acts they invited to self-censor saying, “It should be expected that, if you invite dozens of Western performers into your country, they’ll bring their Western values with them.” He even referenced Malaysia’s strict anti-LGBT laws in his 10-minute speech claiming that being gay in the country is punishable by death which is actually untrue.
For your information, simply identifying as a queer individual does not land someone a jail or death sentence. However, if found guilty of same-sex sexual activity, one can receive up to 20 years of imprisonment, fines and/or deportation. The 34-year-old then went on to say that the general response to their performance and speech was as he expected but was puzzled by the criticism he received from those who claimed to be liberals who called him out on his performative allyship.
The band’s frontman also claimed that the group was briefly imprisoned by the Malaysian authorities. This information, however, has yet to be verified. As for the reason why he hasn’t spoken out about the incident, Matty told the audience that he was not allowed to, possibly by his legal team as the band is currently facing a lawsuit from the Good Vibes Festival organiser.
As previously reported, the organiser issued a letter of claim to The 1975 demanding that they take responsibility for breaching local guidelines. Failing to do so would result in the UK band to pay damages of RM12.3 million. Unfortunately, there has yet to be an update on this legal case.
Below is the full transcript of Matty Healy’s speech (by 1975Archives on Tumblr). Let us know what you think.
