The 1975 frontman Matty Healy opened up about his reasoning for making controversial remarks while playing an emotional gig in London.
Healy has been criticised in recent years for his actions, facing accusations of misogyny, racism and antisemitism.
His history of making contentious comments led to the singer being called out by Rina Sawayama during her Glastonbury set in June. While introducing a new song titled “STFU!!”, she told the crowd: “Tonight, this goes out to a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers, and mocks Asian people on a podcast... he also owns my masters... I’ve had enough.”
Healy previously said he watched Ghetto Gaggers – a brand of racially charged pornographic videos in which women of colour are reportedly put in submissive positions to white men – during an appearance on the Adam Friedland Show podcast.
He also owned the parent company of the label that Sawayama is signed – Dirty Hit Records – from 2018 until April 2023, when he left for unknown reasons.
During a 1975 gig at Finsbury Park on Sunday (2 July), Metro.co.uk reports Healy as saying: “I’m not someone who takes things for granted. The 1975 isn’t a dry band. There’s a lot of irony in it. Like, ‘Love Me’, for example – it doesn’t make sense unless I’m taking the p*** out of myself.”
He continued: “I was always trying stuff. And some stuff I got right and some stuff I got wrong.
“But, do you know what? There’s a lot of things I’ve said, jokes that I’ve made, there’s probably a couple of f***ing songs I’d take back if I had the chance.”
Healy suggested his actions stem from an attempt to make his fans “laugh”.
“What I mean is that I really am only doing this because I want to make you guys laugh and feel good,” he said, adding: “That’s what my favourite art does and that’s what I’m trying to do. I get a bit excited.”
He then told the audience he was “f***ing proud of myself”.
Matty Healy of The 1975— (Getty Images)
Also on the Adam Friedland Show podcast, Healy referenced the US rapper Ice Spice. The hosts of the podcast mistakenly identified the rapper as being from Hawaiian Inuit and Chinese heritage, mocking each accent.
Later in the podcast, the hosts, comedians Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen, performed impressions of Japanese people working in concentration camps, while Healy was heard joining in.
Healy addressed the podcast controversy in an interview with The New York Times in May.
Asked if he had been “baiting” his fans with the remarks, he said: “A little bit. But it doesn’t actually matter. Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.”
