Denise Welch has expressed support for her son, The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, after his band’s recent concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was cut short.
While performing at the Good Vibes Festival on Friday (21 July), Healy went on a rant about the Malaysian government’s stance on LGBT+ rights.
“I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the f***ing point, right, I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy, 34, is heard saying in fan-captured footage.
“I am sorry if that offends you and you’re religious and it’s part of your f***ing government, but your government are a bunch of f***ing r*****s and I don’t care anymore. If you push, I am going to push back. I am not in the f***ing mood, I’m not in the f***ing mood.”
LGBT+ people face severe discrimination in Malaysia, where homosexuality is forbidden and sodomy can be punished with imprisonment and corporal punishment.
A source close to the band tells The Independent: “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and community.”
Healy later told the crowd: “Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m f***ing furious and that’s not fair on you because you’re not representative of your government.
“Because you are young people and I am sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool. So I pulled the show yesterday and we had a conversation and we said ‘You know what? We can’t let these kids down because they’re not the problem’.”
He added: “But, I’ve done this before, I’ve gone to a country where, I don’t know what the f*** it is? Ridiculous. F***ing ridiculous to tell people what they can do with their that and that [points to groin and mouth] and if you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f*** off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before and it doesn’t feel good and I’m f***ed off.”
Healy, as he has often done on the band’s ongoing Still... At Their Very Best tour, then proceeded to kiss bassist Ross MacDonald on the lips.
After finishing their seventh song, “I Couldn’t Be More In Love”, the band abruptly left the stage with Healy telling the crowd: “We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, goodbye.”
On Twitter, Waterloo Road star Welch reacted to a tweet claiming The 1975 had been “banned” from Malaysia alongside the video of Healy kissing MacDonald.
“He’s my son,” Welch, 65, wrote alongside a rainbow flag emoji, which represents gay pride.
The 1975 are next scheduled to perform at We The Fest festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. In Indonesia, LGBT+ people do not face as many restrictions as those in Malaysia; however, same-sex marriage is still not officially recognised by the state.
