The 1975‘s Matty Healy said the band has been banned from Kuala Lumpur after he kissed bassist Ross McDonald onstage while performing “I Like America and America Likes Me” during their Good Vibes Festival show last Friday (July 21).
The ban is because Healy and McDonald’s act is opposed by the Malaysian government, which does not accept LGBT rights.
Following the kiss, the band played “I Couldn’t Be More In Love” before leaving the stage, as Healy said, “We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, goodbye”.
Ahead of the kiss, Healy spoke about Malaysia’s ordinances, saying, “I’m f**ing furious. That’s not fair on you because you aren’t representative of your government. It’s f**king ridiculous to tell people what they can do.”
Healy said the band contemplated pulling out of the show altogether before changing their mind at the last minute.
“I pulled the show yesterday, and we had a conversation, and we said, ‘We can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government,” Healy said.
He added, “If you wanna bring me here, then f**k off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before, and it doesn’t feel good.”
Although the Good Vibes Festival said later that day the festival would proceed as scheduled, Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital issued an “immediate cancellation directive” the following day, forcing the Good Vibes Festival to shut down.
The 1975, which was scheduled to play at Jakarta, Indonesia’s We the Fest on Sunday as well as in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, announced the cancellation of those concerts as well.
“The 1975 regret to announce that their forthcoming shows in Jakarta and Taipei will no longer be going ahead as planned,” the group said in a statement. “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.”
(Photo: Samuel Bradley)
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