Pop band The 1975 got sued by organizers of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival after frontman Matty Healy made a protest against the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws by kissing his fellow bandmate Ross MacDonald during their performance back in July 2023. Such an act prompted the shutdown of the festival.
The members of the band are individually named in the lawsuit with the festival seeking £1.9 million (approximately 142 million pesos) for damages such that the band’s actions led to the festival being shut down.
In a report made by Variety, court documents were filed by the festival organizers Future Sound Asia in the U.K. High Court. Organizers of the festival claim that The 1975 and their management team were made aware of the different restrictions on the performance.
The 1975 has been banned from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after Matty Healy and bandmate Ross MacDonald kissed on-stage during their set at Good Vibes Festival.
Before the kiss, Healy gave a speech on his disappointment in the country’s discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. pic.twitter.com/XcHuPHiYr5
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 21, 2023
The band previously performed at the festival back in 2016, and organizers repeatedly reminded them about the restrictions on swearing, smoking, drinking alcohol on stage, and discussing politics or religion.
The organizers also mentioned that the band was aware of the rules issued by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (PUSPAL) which ban “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves.”
They stated that the band was paid $350,000 to perform and agreed to abide by the rules in order to participate in the festival.
The lawsuit also states that PUSPAL rejected the band’s application to perform last summer in the beginning due to the 2018 article about Matty Healy’s past drug addiction but after appealing ensuring that Healy would follow “all local guidelines and regulations,” the application was granted.
The suit went on claiming that the band made the decision to not perform the night before the festival and then immediately changed their mind going with “a completely different setlist” while acting “in way that were intended to breach the Guidelines.”
This also covers Healy making a “provocative speech” condemning the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws and taking part in a “long pretend passionate embrace” with MacDonald “with the intention of causing offence and breaching regulations and the terms of the agreement.”
Healy claimed that he was “briefly imprisoned” by the Malaysian authorities following his on-stage protest.
The band has not filed a defense yet against the lawsuit.
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