Bad vibes: How 1975’s Matty Healy ruined Malaysian music festival with performative LGBT activism

British band 1975 did not pass the Good Vibes check when frontman Matty Healy’s actions caused a three-day music festival to be shut down and cancelled – on the first night. 

The band was the headlining act on Friday night (July 21) but after two measly songs was made to leave the stage. Healy who is known for bantering a lot during his set started to call out the anti-gay laws and also criticized the government. He said, “I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”

After the bold tirade he then proceed to kiss his bassist Ross MacDonald on stage to make a statement seemingly. The whole incident was also televised on the big screens at the festival stage. 

Confusion turned to anger

According to a concertgoer who made the trip from Singapore, the 1975 were onstage for barely 30 minutes and the set was shut down by midnight. 

The organizers issued a statement about the early shutdown that night stating and calling out The 1975 for “non-compliance with local performance guidelines”. As of July 21, they were confident the remaining two days of the festival would go ahead and said that fans holding Friday tickets would be able to attend one of the two days for free.

However the next day Malaysian communications minister Fahmi Fadzil announced ar 1:20pm that he had met up with the organizers of Good Vibes Festival, Future Sound Asia and had called for the rest of the festival to be canceled. 

Saya telah memanggil penganjur Festival Good Vibes 2023 iaitu Future Sound Asia, susulan aksi dan kenyataan sangat biadab yang dipamerkan oleh artis dari UK “The 1975” di Sepang malam tadi. pic.twitter.com/0X0xjnAmVJ

— Fahmi Fadzil 🇲🇾 (@fahmi_fadzil) July 22, 2023

The festival made the official statement themselves around the same time as well and again, explicitly stated that the decision came to be because of the antics of The 1975. In their statement they apologized to all “ticket holders, vendors, sponsors and partners”. 

The decision had left many people – both fans and non-fans of The 1975 – who were anticipating the rest of the festival confused and also upset. 

Kashmira Kasmuri from Singapore was in Kuala Lumpur for the weekend to catch some acts at the festival. She was not present at The 1975’s set but was aware of his actions. However, she was not aware that the whole festival was canceled the next day and was on the way to the venue. 

The festival was held at the Sepang Circuit and was a one-hour commute from the city. Kasmuri and her friends were staying in the city and immediately had to change her itinerary for the trip. 

Another Singaporean, Clara Lim had booked accommodations nearer to Sepang as she was there mainly for the festival. She had also been to The 1975 show in Singapore earlier that week and was shocked that he decided to pull a stunt in Malaysia. 

She described his actions as “tone deaf” and said that it was a show of performative activism and queer baiting that she could not accept. She also added that their actions may cause more harm to the queer community in the country, leaving them more vulnerable to being targeted to hate crime. 

On top of that, the band had flown out of the country on the night and left the organizers to deal with the aftermath. 

Shortly afterwards, it was announced that The 1975 had also canceled other slated performances in Asia, mainly in Taiwan and in Indonesia for another music festival, We The Fest. 

“Performative” and “not a hero”

If Healy thought he was doing something for activism or a hero in some distorted way, he really failed tremendously. And the negative feedback that followed it proves it. 

Malaysians and those present at the concert took to social media to air their condemnation and criticism towards the band. 

Matt Healy is not a hero, he put everyone at GVF at risk, GVF might be banned, we generally don’t get many concert here. Worse, he put the LGBTQ community in danger. If the gov decided to take actions, he will be far away in a mansion but the community will be hunted.

— Saroarrr (@sara_nikka) July 22, 2023

Twitter user @sara_nikka tweeted right after the incident (before the entire festival was canceled) saying that he had put everyone at the festival at risk. She continued in another tweet and said that he should “check your privileges and the impact before you do anything” referring to his white-boy activism. 

There were a lot of sad stories involving vendors clocking in big losses and artists who had practiced hard for the festival. One of the stories involved Malaysian artist Thalitha who wanted to dedicate her set to her late mother. 

A lot of sad stories from the cancellation of Good Vibes Festival 2023 as a result of the childish behaviour of Matt Healy and The 1975.

But this breaks me.

GVF 2023 was supposed to be @TaLiThAbE ‘s tribute to her mom who she lost exactly a month ago. pic.twitter.com/5UItQ7U3RP

— ᴊᴏᴇ ʟᴇᴇ (@iamjoelee) July 22, 2023

Her set at Good Vibes was meant to be her “coming back” performance following her mother’s death and now it had been denied due to Healy’s careless actions. 

Musician A Kid Named Rufus who is Malaysian but now based in America also weighed in on the issue in a TikTok video. 

@akidnamedrufus #stitch with @cabi ps: that’s not to say that Malaysian’s are all homophobic, as there is a queer community and I believe a lot of Gen-Z/Millenial Malaysia’s are more woke and accepting of LGBTQ+ folks, but Malaysian are all aware of what our government systems are like and how acts like thse can actually hurt marginalized communities more than help them. #the1975 #goodvibesfestival #gvf2023 ♬ original sound – a kid named rufus

He said that Malaysia “hasn’t been the safest place for queer people to exist” and that the incident at Good Vibes can actually hurt marginalized communities more than help them.

Beyond Southeast Asia, the matter was also a talking point in Canadian comedian Chris Zou’s TikTok video. 

@storiesofcz

From u/LEOWDQ: “If you think of supporting community groups that assist LGBTQ folk in Malaysia, here are some organisations you can donate to: • ⁠QueerLapis (my recommendation) • ⁠PT Foundation Facebook Page • ⁠KLASS • ⁠SEED Foundation • ⁠Justice for Sisters”

♬ original sound – Chris Zou

He kept his rant very sarcastic but also sharp saying “you guys gonna clarify here, they’re not that big” after jokingly mistaking The 1975 as a period in time. He also went on to make fun of how Healy “cares so deeply about gay rights in Malaysia” after not talking to a single gay man in Malaysia or donating a single dime to gay rights. Ouch. 

Band’s reply and reputation

Since the fiasco, the band has yet to issue a public apology. Instead, Healy posted another reckless Instagram story on his personal account following the cancelation of Good Vibes. 

It’s not the first time The 1975 has been in the news for something controversial. They’ve been engaging in plenty of problematic behavior for quite some time. 

He recently came into fire for his controversial remarks about rapper Ice Spice during a podcast, referring to her as a “Inuit Spice Girl” and a “chubby Chinese lady”. In his apology he said, “I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you.”

For their At Their Very Best tour, Healy is known for his unhinged antics including eating a steak onstage (which he did in Singapore), depicting masturbation, inviting fans to kiss him during a song (and even sucked on a fan’s thumb at one occasion) and also once got a tattoo on stage that read “iM a MaN”. Real classy. 

In an interview with the New Zealand Herald, he even said, “The first part of the show is about me. It’s about how if you’re a single guy and you’ve spent a year or so alone on the internet, you go mental. The show is about looking at masculinity, looking at being famous. It’s about what’s real and what’s sincere and not sincere.”

Cool, tell us more about masculinity Matty! We’re all ears. 

Check out these other stories: