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British band, The 1975 have been banned in Malaysia and an entire music festival cancelled after frontman Matty Healy kissed his male bandmate on stage.
Healy, 34, who dated Taylor Swift, slammed Malaysia’s anti-gay laws at the Good Vibes music festival in Kuala Lumpur, before kissing bassist Ross MacDonald on stage, in a country where Homosexuality is illegal and laws criminalising sodomy are punishable by imprisonment.
Healy told fans the band had thought of pulling out of the event, saying: ‘I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.’
He added: ‘I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it.’
Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m f****** furious and that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government because you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool.’
He later abruptly ended the set, saying: ‘All right, we gotta go. We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur.’
A source close to the band told MailOnline: ‘Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and the community.’
The 1975, which consists of Healy, bassist MacDonald, lead guitarist Adam Hann and drummer George Daniel, have also been banned from performing in Malaysia, according to a government committee that oversees performances from foreigners.
The on-stage protest was not a first for Healy, who kissed a male fan at a 2019 concert in the United Arab Emirates, which also has tough anti-LGBTQ laws.
Over the weekend, Malaysian Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil posted a news report about the kiss and called it a ‘very rude act’.
He later ordered the ‘immediate cancellation’ of the three-day festival after meeting with organisers.
‘Never touch the sensitivities of the community, especially those that are against the manners and values of the local culture,’ he said in a subsequent tweet.
In a statement also posted to Twitter, the festival confirmed the cancellation had been at the direction of the communications ministry ‘following the controversial conduct and remarks made by UK artist Matty Healy’.
‘The Ministry has underlined its unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule, or contravene Malaysian laws,’ the statement added.
Healy later took to Instagram to respond to the statement, arguing: ‘Ok well why don’t you try and not make out with Ross for 20 years. Not as easy as it looks.’
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