On July 21, during The 1975‘s set at The Good Vibes Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur, frontman Matty Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald shared an onstage kiss. The display of affection was, in Healy’s words, to protest Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ laws. Ultimately, the group reportedly was forced to pay a fine after the members served a short stint in a local jail cell.
Now, according to Channel News Asia, the country’s parliament has instituted a “kill switch” rule for foreign bands’ future live shows to ensure it never happens again. The outlet reported that Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching announced the stipulation for event organizers.
“These are the guidelines from the incident (involving The 1975), and we hope that with stricter guidelines, we can ensure that performances by foreign artists can adhere to the culture in Malaysia,” said Ching.
After returning to the US in August, Heally addressed the incident during a concert. “All I’ll say is that I don’t give a f*ck about any white savior complex bullsh*t,” he said. “What I’ll say is that doing the right thing often requires quite a lot of sacrifice and very little reward. And being seen to do the right thing requires very little sacrifice, and that’s when you get all the rewards. And me and Ross [MacDonald] nearly shaved our heads because we thought we were going to prison for being f**s.”
