Malaysian festival sues The 1975 over controversial onstage gay kiss
Organizers of the Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia have filed a lawsuit against rock band The 1975 after Matty Healy’s onstage gay kiss which drew backlash.
Future Sound Asia, the music festival’s organizers, are seeking £1.9m or $2.4m (P140 million) after their controversial stunt that led to the festival being shut down in July 2023.
In the court documents filed in the UK High Court, as reported by Variety, the organizers claim that the English pop rock band and their management team were aware of the prohibitions they needed to conform to be able to perform. The prohibited acts include swearing, smoking, and drinking on stage, taking off clothes, and talking about politics or religion.
They also noted the guidelines issued by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artists (PUSPAL), which also prohibits “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves.”
The band was said to have been informed about the prohibitions when they performed at the same festival in 2016, and that they were reminded “multiple times” before their performance in July 2023.
According to the lawsuit, PUPSAL initially rejected The 1975's application to perform at the 2023 festival over a 2018 article about Healy's drug addiction and subsequent recovery. It later gave approval after it was promised that the lead singer would follow local guidelines.
The band was paid $350,000 (P20 million) to perform after they agreed to abide by the rules to perform at the festival.
The night before the festival, the lawsuit stated that the band decided to no longer perform, but they later changed their mind and proceeded to go on stage as scheduled.
However, the band played a “completely different setlist” and act in ways that "intended" to breach the regulations. Healy was said to have made a "provocative speech" and took part in a "long pretend passionate embrace" with bassist Ross MacDonald.
The lawsuit also stated that the band planned to smuggle a bottle of wine onstage so Healy “could have easy access.”
Healy was also allegedly drinking alcohol, acting “in a drunken way,” smoking cigarettes, appearing to vomit, and spitting excessively.
Following Healy's kiss with MacDonald, they were ordered by the PUSPAL officers to stop the performance. They accused the frontman of being "very aggressive" toward them and that he needed to be restrained by his managers.
The day after the band’s controversial performance, the organizers’ license was revoked, prompting them to cancel the remaining two days of the music festival.
The lawsuit also stated that the band and their management “rushed to their hotel” to collect their luggage to leave the country as soon as possible, as they were aware that the performance violated Malaysian law. Healy also claimed he was “briefly imprisoned” by Malaysian authorities after the show.
The concert organizers had earlier sought $2.7 million (P152 million) from the brand in August 2023 following the breach of contract.
For his part, Healy said in his speech during their show in Texas in October 2023 that the stunt was not meant to provoke the government.
“Me kissing Ross was not a stunt simply meant to provoke the government. It was an ongoing part of The 1975 stage show, which had been performed many times prior,” he said.
“Similarly, we chose not to change our set that night, to play pro-freedom of speech or pro-gay songs. To eliminate any routine part of the show in an effort to appease the Malaysian authorities’ bigoted views of LGBTQ people would be a passive endorsement of those politics,” he continued.
“As liberals are so fond of saying, silence equals violence, use your platform. So we did that. And that is where things got complicated,” he added.
As per the Variety report, the band has not yet filed a defense against the lawsuit.