Matty Healy has broken his silence after being banned from Malaysia after an on-stage kiss with a bandmate. Matty – the son of ITV Loose Women, Coronation Street and Channel Hollyoaks star Denise Welch – has thanked activist Peter Tatchell for defending his stunt.
“Matty Healy is not a “white saviour” for showing solidarity with Malaysian LGBTs,” Tatchell writes in his Guardian column. “The Kuala Lumpur regime will be delighted that the focus is on the 1975, rather than the LGBT+ human rights abuses the band condemned. Whatever you think about Healy’s actions, he succeeded in drawing global attention to Malaysia’s persecution of its queer citizens – more so than any other action by anyone else.
“Hundreds of millions of people are now aware that Malaysia penalises LGBT+ people with up to 20 years jail, plus caning and fines – under a colonial-era law originally imposed by Britain in 1871.” Matty replied by saying: “Thank you Peter you have always been a hero of mine and a great friend to many people I love dearly. You mean a lot to so many people.”
A statement from the band was posted on the We The Fest Instagram page on Sunday, saying: “The 1975 regret to announce that their forthcoming shows in Jakarta and Taipei will no longer be going ahead as planned. The band never take 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 the current circumstances, it is impossible to proceed with the current shows.”
“Thank you for your understand and continued support.”cOn Friday, Healy said in footage shared on social media he was going to “pull out” of the Malaysian show as he did not “see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with”.
Healy also said: “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 was then seen walking off stage before coming back and saying: “Alright, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, see you later.”