The British band sparked a controversy in Malaysia due to an onstage kiss between vocalist Matty Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald. The Good Vibes festival was even cut short by the country’s authorities.
A resounding kiss. The British indie-rock group The 1975 canceled their concert in Indonesia on Sunday July 23, after having already prompted the cancellation of a festival in neighboring Malaysia for a kiss on stage between the singer and the bassist. “The 1975 regrets to announce that its upcoming concerts in Jakarta and Taipei will no longer take place as scheduled”explained the group in a statement posted on the Instagram page of the Indonesian festival We The Fest.
“The band never takes the decision to cancel a show lightly and were looking forward to playing for the fans in Jakarta and Taipei, but unfortunately due to the current circumstances it is not possible to proceed with the scheduled shows.” The group was scheduled to perform Tuesday in Taiwan, home to a thriving LGBTQ community. The Indonesian government and festival organizers have yet to comment on the cancellation.
Anti-LGBT+ laws in Malaysia
On Friday, the band had to cut short their concert at the Good Vibes music festival in Sepang, near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, after a kiss on stage between singer Matty Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald. Earlier during the concert, Matty Healy had vehemently denounced the anti-LGBT+ laws in force in Malaysia, where homosexuality is illegal and can lead to prison sentences.
“I don’t see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”
Matty Healy, lead singer of The 1975
For his part, the Malaysian Minister of Communications and Digital has qualified on Twitter the kiss of “very rude”before ordering “immediate cancellation” the rest of the Good Vibes festival, which was to last three days. “Never touch the sensitivities of our community, especially those that go against the ways and values of the local culture”said Fahmi Fadzil on Twitter.
In Indonesia, the rights of LGBT+ people are also under threat. In this Muslim-majority country, the most populous in the world, legislation has never made homosexuality a criminal offence, but local ordinances that discriminate against LGBTQ people do exist. Several events there have been canceled in recent years following pressure from the opposition. Political figures and conservative groups attempt to criminalize homosexuality and same-sex couples are often discriminated against.