Legal battle over The 1975’s on-stage kiss in Malaysia reaches High Court
In 2023, The 1975‘s Matty Healy shared an on-stage kiss with his bandmate Ross MacDonald at the Good Vibes festival in Malaysia, which led to the closure of the Kuala Lumopan event. Now, the matter has reached the High Court.
In Malaysia, homosexuality is illegal which can result in a 20-year imprisonment. During their headline set, Healy protested against the country’s strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws during an impassioned speech before kissing MacDonald. He told the crowd: “When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the fucking 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.”
As a result of the act, the rest of the festival was cancelled and the band were blacklisted from Malaysia. Then, last July, Future Sound Asia, the company behind the Good Vibes festival, filed a lawsuit in the UK High Court, and demanded £1.9 million in damages.
In the lawsuit, it’s alleged that The 1975 were paid $350,000 to appear at the Good Vibes festival, and organisers were granted special dispensation to allow them to perform by local authorities due to Healy’s admittance about past drug use. However, they claim this was made on strict condition that he would follow “all local guidelines and regulations.” Therefore, they allege that The 1975 Productions LLP breached their contract.
Now, at the High Court, the band’s legal representative, Edward Cullen KC, described FSA’s claim as an “illegitimate, artificial and incoherent” attempt to “pin liability on individuals”, per the BBC.
Cullen also said he finds it “quite bizarre” that individual members of the band are deemed responsible, as the band’s company had an agreement with FSA. He requested the High Court dismiss the claim against the four members as individuals and instead proceed against their company.
Meanwhile, Andrew Burns KC, the lawyer representing FSA, claimed in a written submission that The 1975 “deliberately behaved in a way to challenge and provoke the Malaysian authorities” which left Good Vibes with “substantial losses”.
He also noted that The 1975 previously performed at the festival in 2016, but “planned provocative conduct” for their set in 2023. Burns said they “smuggled” a bottle of wine onto the stage and delivered a “second-rate set of songs”, which he alleges was to “punish and upset the Malaysian audience and authorities”. The KC also described Healy’s on-stage speech as “obscene”.
Burns’ written submission concluded: “The band should be held liable as the loss was caused by their intentional misbehaviour breaching the express assurances that were given which gave rise to their personal duties of care and their responsibility for their own personal behaviour.”
The hearing is expected to conclude on February 19th.
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