Matty Healy and Allied Activism
By Judy Bokao
Recently, Matty Healy, a member the band the 1975, found himself in a bit of trouble last week. Healy went on a rant in Malaysia over the country’s anti-gay laws during his concert. The 1975 headlining was a show for the Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, on July 21 when things took a turn.
It seems Healy was unable to bare the pressure exerted by the government’s anti-gay laws and chose to speak about it. In the middle of the concert, he started addressing the audience. He said the band had made a mistake while booking their shows as they failed to look into the country’s law. He went on to explain that he felt the laws were trying to control the 1975 in unfair ways.
Healy apologized to the audience saying these laws were not their fault, “I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious… but your government are a bunch of f — ing r — — . I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the f — ing mood.” Healy’s fellow bandmate, Ross MacDonald, then walked over to him and they kissed as the crowd loudly cheered.
Matty Healy and the other band members believed they were helping the Malaysian queer community. Unfortunately, their stunt has only made things worse. Malaysia is known for its draconian laws against the LGBTQ+ community. Queer Malaysians can be imprisoned for 20 years with heaving fines and caning just for being part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Any foreigner caught having a same-sex relationship in Malaysia is deported immediately. Malaysia also openly practices conversion therapy. It is no wonder that the country was ranked as the second worst country in the world in terms of transgender rights in the Global Trans-right Index.
This is why Matty Healy’s attempted activism backfired. The Malaysia government was never going to take his actions lightly. The first thing the government did was call off the music festival. The government has also amped up its scrutiny on the LGBTQ+ community.
Popular Malaysian singer and songwriter Talitha Tan took to Twitter to call out Healy tweeting, “I am furious at you and your white privilege, thanks for nothing,” Talitha was angry that the show was shut down. She was unable to perform because of the cancelation. She tagged Healy on the tweet and explained that if he really wanted to help the queer community he should have asked queer activists what to do. By taking the activism into his own, somewhat ignorant, hands he ended up hurting the Malaysian LGBTQ+ community. Many musicians at the festival felt the same.
Others worried that the country will close itself off from hosting any other major pop-culture events and thus fans will miss out on these experiences. Many also worry about the heavy censorship that is bound to come.
In a way, when we look at both sides of the story we can understand that the 1975 was coming from a good place. However, their “screw you attitude” towards the Malaysian government only made matters worse. Healy should have consulted with queer activists instead of trying to control their activism.
The whole point of activism is to make life better for those marginalized. Before an ally acts, they should think of the consequences or find a less invasive way to pass the message. At the end of the day, Matty Healy took a plane and said goodbye to Malaysia but what about the queer Malaysian community? Who is going to help them as the heat gets turned up following Healy’s ‘activism’?
About the Author:
Judy Bokao is 20 years old and was born in Ethiopia but relocated to Nairobi two years ago. She is passionate about everyone having equal rights and is also big on conservation and speaking up for our planet. Judy loves reading and photography and is just a free-spirited young lady trying to grow into a woman her mom can be proud of.
