Annabelle Liang/ BBC News
The organisers of a music festival in Kuala Lumpur are suing British band The 1975 for breach of contract and damages after its singer Matty Healy attacked Malaysia’s anti-LGBT laws, leading to the event being cancelled.
During the band’s headline performance last July, Healy also addressed the audience in a profanity-laden speech and kissed a fellow band member.
The company behind the Good Vibes Festival is seeking £1.9m ($2.4m) in compensation in the UK’s High Court over a violation of performance rules.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Malaysia and punishable by 20 years in prison. The festival does not allow talking about politics and religion, swearing, smoking or drinking alcohol on stage.
The BBC contacted the band who said “they have nothing to add at this time”.
In a court filing, the festival organisers said The 1975 and its management team were aware of its rules for performers.
Future Sound Asia said the band had performed at the same festival in 2016, and were given multiple reminders of the rules ahead of its performance last July.
The lawsuit alleges that the band decided to “act in a way that was intended to breach guidelines”.
It cited Healy’s “provocative speech” and “long pretend passionate embrace” with bassist Ross MacDonald, that it said had “the intention of causing offence and breaching the regulations”.
It added that the band also smuggled a bottle of wine on stage to give Healy “easy access” to it.
Future Sound Asia also cited guidelines by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes, which ban “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves”.
The event in Kuala Lumpur was cancelled the day after the band’s performance. Malaysia’s communications ministry said it took an “unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule or contravene Malaysian laws”.
Last August the organisers threatened the band with legal action and demanded they acknowledge their liability and compensate the organisers for damages incurred.
Healy’s performance was also criticised by members of the country’s LGBT community who said the act of “performative activism” would make their lives harder.
The 35-year-old singer subsequently defended his actions.
“The 1975 did not waltz [into] Malaysia unannounced, they were invited to headline a festival by a government who had full knowledge of the band with its well-publicised political views and its routine stage show,” he said on stage in Dallas last October.
“Me kissing Ross was not a stunt simply meant to provoke the government,” he continued. “It was an ongoing part of the 1975 stage show, which had been performed many times prior.
“To eliminate any routine part of the show in an effort to appease the Malaysian authorities’ bigoted views of LGBTQ people would be a passive endorsement of those politics.”
The band were sued in a separate class action by several musicians and vendors who said they suffered a loss of earnings as a result of the second and third days of the festival being cancelled.
