Malaysia’s government canceled a music festival in Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital, on Saturday after lead singer of British band The 1975, Matty Healy, kissed bassist Ross MacDonald on stage during their performance the day before. Before kissing MacDonald, Healy had made a short speech very critical of the government of Malaysia, a country where homosexuality is criminalized and is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. After the kiss, The 1975 went ahead with the concert, but after about half an hour Healy announced to the audience that they had to leave: “We’ve just been banned from Kuala Lumpur, see you.”
The 1975 have been banned from performing in Malaysia after frontman Matty Healy kissed bass player Ross MacDonald on-stage.
The three-day music festival has now been cancelled.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 22, 2023
The festival had started on Friday and was supposed to last three days, but on Saturday the organizers announced that all other programming had been cancelled. The country’s communications minister, Fahmi Fadzil, wrote on Twitter that “there will be no compromises towards anyone who challenges, denigrates and violates Malaysian laws.” The 1975 are a very popular pop rock band that has been around for more than twenty years.