The 1975 Cancels Shows in Indonesia and Taiwan Following Malaysia LGBTQ Controversy
The 1975 are canceling shows in Indonesia and Taiwan after the band’s set was cut at a Malaysia music festival following frontman Matty Healy‘s comments about the country’s anti-gay laws and kissing his bandmate on stage.
The British pop-rock group was scheduled to perform at Jakarta’s We the Fest on Sunday (July 23) and at the Taipei Music Center on Tuesday (July 25) as part of their 2023 Asia tour. The band announced in a statement on Sunday that both performances have been called off.
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“The 1975 regret to announce that their forthcoming shows in Jakarta and Taipei will no longer be going ahead as planned,” the 1975 wrote in a statement posted on We the Fest’s Twitter page.
“The band never takes the decision to cancel a show lightly and had been eagerly looking forward to playing for fans in Jakarta and Taipei but unfortunately, due to current circumstances, it is impossible to proceed with the scheduled shows.”
The cancellations come after Healy slammed Malaysia’s LGBTQ laws as “f–king ridiculous” before sharing a prolonged kiss with bassist Ross MacDonald at the country’s Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on Friday (July 21). The following day, event organizer Future Sounds Asia announced that the remainder of the three-day fest had been canceled.
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, and those convicted face up to 20 years behind bars.
The 1975’s Good Vibes set was cut short after Healy, who has long been outspoken about LGBTQ rights, ranted about Malaysia’s restrictive laws banning homosexuality.
“Because you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool,” he told the crowd in video circulating on social media, noting that he had pulled the show Thursday in protest before deciding not to let fans down. “But, I’ve done this before. I’ve gone to a country where it’s — I don’t know what it f–king is. Ridiculous. F–king ridiculous to tell people what they can do with that and that. If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f–k off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before and it doesn’t feel good, and I’m f–ked off.”
The set ended early shortly after Healy kissed MacDonald, with the frontman telling festival-goers, “All right, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur. See you later.”
See the 1975’s Asian tour cancellation announcement below via We the Fest’s Twitter page.
Mitchell Peters
Billboard
