A three-day music festival in Kuala Lumpur was cancelled on Saturday after British band The 1975 failed to comply with local performance guidelines.
The band’s performance was cut short on Friday, the first day of the three-day Good Vibes Festival, after frontman Matty Healy gave a speech criticising the Malaysian government for criminalising same-sex relationships.
“I made a mistake when we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the ****ing point, right? I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy told the crowd.
“And I’m sorry if that offends you and you’re religious... If you push, I’m gonna push back.”
Homosexuality is forbidden in Malaysia, and laws criminalising sodomy can result in imprisonment or corporal punishment.
Healy, who was holding a bottle of wine, told the crowd that the group would not be performing “uplifting songs” as he was furious.
“And that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government. You are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive,” he said.
After Healy’s speech, the band’s bassist Ross MacDonald walked over to him, and the two men kissed during their rendition of I Like America & America Likes Me.
After performing at least one more song, Healy said: “All right, we gotta go. We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, I’ll see you later.”
The band performed seven songs in its headlining set. Other songs on the set list that it did not perform on Friday included Robbers, Somebody Else and I’m In Love With You.
Malaysia’s Communications and Digital Ministry announced through one of its committees that The 1975 had been blacklisted from performing in Malaysia.
The ministry’s central committee for the application for filming and performance by foreign artistes (Puspal) said the decision was made after the group was found to have “challenged, belittled and disparaged local laws and violated the morals of Malaysians” during its show.
“The Communications and Digital Ministry will not tolerate any party that provokes and engages in disrespectful behaviour while performing in Malaysia,” Puspal said in a statement on Saturday.
The ministry has also filed a police report against the band and the festival’s organisers for failing to comply with Puspal’s conditions for performing in the country, adding that the organisers had previously made assurances that they would be responsible for the band’s performance.
Selangor police chief, Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, said the police would be contacting the organisers as part of their investigations.
As the concert took place at the Sepang International Circuit, Commissioner Hussein said the inquiries will be conducted by Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) police. Sepang International Circuit is a 10-minute drive from KLIA.
The organisers issued a statement late on Friday night saying: “We regret that The 1975 performance had to be cut short due to non-compliance with local performance guidelines.”
On Saturday afternoon, the organisers said in an Instagram post that the festival, which was supposed to end on Sunday, had been cancelled following the incident.
In a series of tweets on Saturday afternoon, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said he had ordered the immediate cancellation of the rest of the festival, with organisers asked to compensate those who had bought tickets.
“I want to stress, the position of the Unity Government is very clear. There is no compromise against any party that challenges, disparages and violates Malaysian laws,” he tweeted.
The festival had been expected to feature other international and local music acts, including American band The Strokes and Australian rapper The Kid Laroi.
Malaysians have left disparaging comments on The 1975’s social media pages, voicing their disappointment at the band and lead vocalist Healy for being disrespectful towards the country’s customs, and their “surface-level activism”.
One fan, Ms Yasmin Devan, blamed the band for being “the reason the festival got cancelled after just one day” and possibly for the wider repercussions.
“You don’t know how to navigate this country and its issues. Countless people lost their jobs and the (organising) company might even go bankrupt because of this, can’t even recoup their cost,” she said.
Another Malaysian fan wrote on Instagram: “What you did may cost us to miss out on a lot of concerts in future.”
Puspal had earlier in 2023 tightened guidelines for concerts in the country, including blackout dates close to religious holidays such as Hari Raya Puasa, and banning performers from actions such as cross-dressing or removing articles of clothing during shows.
Popular American YouTube musician David Choi also weighed in, saying it was a shame that The 1975’s “extremely selfish, unprofessional, and most of all, privileged actions... probably made things worse for the progressives in a mostly Islamic country”.
While the band has yet to comment since walking off the stage on Friday, those close to the members have shown support for their antics in Malaysia.
A source close to the band told American magazine Variety: “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community, and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans.”
Healy’s mother, actress Denise Welch, shared a tweet of a video of the onstage kiss, writing: “He’s my son.”
In 2019, Healy kissed a male fan while performing in Dubai, which criminalises same-sex couples and sexual acts.
After the incident in Dubai, Healy tweeted: “I don’t think we’ll be allowed back due to my ‘behaviour’ but know that I love you and I wouldn’t have done anything differently given the chance again.”
The band will perform in Jakarta on Sunday. Same-sex marriage is not officially recognised in Indonesia.
The band performed in Singapore at two sold-out concerts earlier this week.