Badminton About Malaysia's LGBTQ+ Controversy: I'm Upset With This Blank

Badminton (Instagram @the1975)

JAKARTA - The frontman of The 1975, Maritime Affairs delivered a long speech at their performance in Texas regarding his recent ban on bands from Malaysia for criticizing the local government's attitude towards LGBTQ+.

The 1975 was banned from appearing in Malaysia after their performance was shortened on the first day of the Good Vibes Festival on July 21. At that timebak criticized the Malaysian government for the anti-LGBTQ law.

They also kissed the lips of their bandmate bassist Ross MacDonald on stage before their set was cut by two songs and announced that The 1975, since then, was banned in Malaysia.

Future Sound Asia (FSA), organizer of the Kuala Lumpur Good Vibes Festival (GVF), then demanded that the band pay compensation of RM12.3 million after indecent behavior led to the cancellation of the festival, with artists and vendors complaining about the loss of revenue.

The LGBTQ+ community in Malaysia also criticized his actions, citing: "Foreigners should not come and badmouth us and tell us how to do something, especially when they only make things worse for us".

During the band set last night, ahead of Love It If We Made It reverberated,tip gave his views on the incident and spoke at length.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen, "he started. "Okay, unfortunately for you, Dallas, you guys are making the wrong decisions. You get a show where I really stop caring. And, you know, this show has flowed from stage to a lot of different environments, and I don't mind being shallow with accusations of being racist or things like that, it allows performances to do what they are designed to do uncovering inconsistency and defamation, I use myself to do that.

They then directly discussed the recent events in Malaysia and added: "This has nothing to do with you, but unfortunately there are so many very stupid people on the internet. Everyone keeps telling me that you shouldn't talk about Malaysia, don't talk about what happened in Malaysia, so I'll talk about it at length."

He went on to say that he was'Upset if it had to be honest' before proceeding: 'The 1975 didn't make it in Malaysia without prior notice, they were invited to become the headline of a festival by the government that has full knowledge of the band with his well-published political views and regular stage performances. The closeness of the organizers of the Malaysian festival with this band became the basis of our invitation.

I kiss Ross is not an action that is only meant to provoke the government, it is a sustainable part of the 1975 action that was carried out many times before. Likewise, we did not change our set that night, you know, pro-free speech or pro-gay songs.

"Disappearing any routine part in an effort to calm the Malaysian government's fanatical view of the LGBTQ group will be a form of passive support for the politics. Because liberals really like to say 'pension causes violence, use your platform', then we do that."

Then she said that it was that everything became complicated and she drew attention to the fact that Malaysian authorities were angry that homosexuality was criminalized and could be sentenced to death in their authoritarian theoretics.

But he said: The most confusing thing is the liberal anger towards our band because it remains consistent with our pro-LGBTQ stage performances. Many people, who come from liberals, argue that the show is a unsensitive show of hostility towards Malaysian government cultural customs, and that the kiss is a sign of the performance of the fellowship.

"Starting the idea of calling a performing player a wasteful thing. A show is a player's job. Stages are a place for artist expression to be dramatized hakikily. That's why people go to the stupid show."

Another person, people who seem liberal, argues that the kiss itself is a form of colonialism. That 1975, in the rich tradition of bad white people in the past, imposed its Western belief into the Eastern world.

Matty Healy’s full speech on Malaysia incident in Fort Worth tonightThanks to Emily and talktorossabouit#The1975 #SATVB pic.twitter.com/1DfP18kXND

— The 1975 TH (@the1975_thteam) October 10, 2023

Here's a full speech on Malaysia incident in Fort Worth TonightThanks to Emily and talktorossauit #The1975 #SATVB pic.twitter.com/1DfP18kXND