Their gig at the Good Vibes Festival was cut short by their organisers
The 1975 have been banned from performing in Malaysia indefinitely after lead singer Matty Healy kissed a male bandmate on stage.
Healy staged the protest while performing as the headline act at the Good Vibes Festival in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
As a result, organisers cancelled the three-day festival altogether and the group have now been banned from the Muslim-majority country, where homosexuality is considered a crime and punishable by 20 years in prison.
A statement from the organisers said that the festival had been cancelled because of Healy’s “controversial conduct and remarks” while adding that the government had “underlined its unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule, or contravene Malaysian law.”
During their, Healy hit out at the Malaysian government’s stance on LGBT rights in a profanity-strewn speech to the festival audience.
Footage posted to social media revealed that he had even considered pulling the band from the festival.
He said: “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it.
“I don’t see the f***** point… of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”
Shortly after he kissed bassist Ross MacDonald as the band played the song I Like America & America Likes Me. Soon afterwards however, their set was cut short, with Healy saying: “All right, we gotta go.
“We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, I’ll see you later.”
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