The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 2023
A stage kiss in Kuala Lumpur cancelled Good Vibes Festival and got The 1975 banned
Matty Healy kissed his bassist on stage; Malaysia cancelled the festival's remaining days and barred the band from the country.
Good Vibes Festival · Future Sound Asia · 2023-07-22
What happened
On the night of 21 July 2023, Matty Healy of The 1975 delivered a profanity-laden speech against Malaysia's anti-LGBTQ laws on the Good Vibes Festival stage in Kuala Lumpur, called his decision to play the country a 'mistake', kissed bassist Ross MacDonald during a song, and ended the set about 30 minutes in.
The next day the festival's remaining schedule, which ran through Sunday, was cancelled on an immediate directive, and The 1975 was banned from performing in Malaysia again. An official said the band's actions were against 'the manners and values of the local culture'.
The festival, organised by Future Sound Asia and running since 2013, lost its final day outright, and the band lost a country it had toured before. Healy's statement to the crowd that the band was 'banned from Kuala Lumpur' turned out to be accurate.
Why it happened
- The kiss and the speech were the whole story: a band flown in to headline a festival handed the organisers a national controversy before the weekend was over.
- The 1975 knew the law before it flew out, and Healy called the decision to come a mistake on stage, which made the act a choice, not an accident.
- For the organiser, one headline act carried the entire event's risk: a decade of festival goodwill was cancelled in a day because one set went off-script.
The lesson
One act can own an event's whole risk: a kiss and a speech cost the festival its final day and the band a country, in one weekend. The performer who ignores the local terms pays in access.
Sources
- Matty Healy: Malaysia festival cancelled after The 1975 singer kisses bandmate on stage — BBC News, 22 July 2023
- Malaysia's government cancels festival after The 1975's Matty Healy kisses bandmate on stage — NPR, 22 July 2023
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