Matty Healy feared he would be sent to prison after he kissed his bandmate Ross MacDonald on stage in Malaysia and criticised the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws.
The 1975 were banned from the Southeast Asian country, where same-sex activity is illegal, last month after the 34-year-old frontman protested the laws by kissing his male bassist Ross during their show at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on July 21st.
Matty has now revealed he and Ross nearly shaved their heads in preparation for a potential prison stint.
During a show in Hawaii on August 6th, Matty told the crowd: “All I’ll say is that I don’t give a f*** about any white saviour complex b*******.
“What I’ll say is that doing the right thing often requires quite a lot of sacrifice and very little reward.
“And being seen to do the right thing requires very little sacrifice, and that’s when you get all the rewards.
“And me and Ross nearly shaved our heads because we thought we were going to prison for being f***.”
The 1975 were performing a headline set on the Friday at the Good Vibes Festival last month when Matty and Ross smooched on stage.
The event was scheduled to run the rest of the weekend, but it was abruptly axed by authorities following the controversial kiss.
Before kissing Ross, Matty told the crowd: “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the f****** point… of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.
“I’m sorry if that offends you and you’re religious… but your government are a bunch of f****** r******.
“I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the f****** mood.
“I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool. I pulled this show yesterday, and we had a conversation.
“We said, ‘You know what? We can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government.’
“If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f*** off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before, and it doesn’t feel good.”
Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital said about cancelling the festival in the wake of the pair’s smooch: “The Ministry has underlined its unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule, or contravene Malaysian laws… we sincerely apologise to all our ticket holders, vendors, sponsors, and partners. We are aware of the time, energy and efforts you have put into making this festival a success, and we value your steadfast support.”
The rest of The 1975’s Asia Tour, which included stops at Jakarta, Indonesia’s We the Fest, and a show in Taipei, Taiwan, were also pulled.