Photo credit: Raph_PH / CC from 2.0
The 1975 canceled their upcoming show in Indonesia in Taiwan after their show in Malaysia was cancelled.
Matty Healy kissed bassist Ross McDonald after he had long railed against the Malaysian government’s stance on homosexuality. “I don’t see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy told the crowd. “Unfortunately you don’t get a lot of uplifting songs because I’m mad as fuck. And that’s not fair to you because you’re not representative of your government. Because you are young people and I’m sure many of you are gay, progressive and cool.”
Matty Healy performed “I Like America & America Likes Me” before the band left the stage, with Healy telling the audience, “All right, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur — see you later.” The kissing controversy led to the Good Vibes festival being canceled the next day.
The 1975 were planned to perform at We the Fest, a music festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. The band canceled those shows stating:
“The band never takes the decision to cancel a show lightly and had been so looking forward to playing to fans in Jakarta and Taipei, but unfortunately the current circumstances make it impossible to proceed with the scheduled shows.”
Indonesia has no explicit laws making homosexuality illegal, but local laws tell a different story. There are also attempts to criminalize homosexuality in the country’s government. Neither the government nor the festival organizers have commented on the cancellation.
Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, so the repeal comes as a bit of a surprise. Healy is no stranger to protests on stage – in 2019 he kissed a male fan in the United Arab Emirates and sparked controversy there.