Matty Healy hit with $2.7 million bill from Malaysian music festival over same-sex kiss
The 1975 are facing a legal threat after an on-stage same-sex kiss prompted a government-mandated shutdown of a music festival
Matty Healy and his band The 1975 find themselves staring down a $2.7 million bill this week—or, more accurately, 12.3 million ringgit, accused losses from Future Sound Asia’s Malaysian Good Vibes Festival. That, you may recall, is the music festival Healy shut down pretty much single-tonguedly a few weeks back, when—upon being reminded of Malaysia’s restrictive and oppressive legal strictures on homosexuality—he gave a long rant to his audience, before kissing bandmate Ross MacDonald on the lips. This led, in turn, to the band’s headlining set being abruptly shut down—and then, the next day, organizers announcing that the following days of the festival would also be shuttered, on government demand. (Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, with sentences that can include up to 20 years of imprisonment, as well as caning.)
