The organizer of Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival has filed a lawsuit against the 1975 and all its members individually following frontman Matty Healy’s protest against the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws during the event last July. The festival is seeking £1.9 million ($2.4 million) after the band’s antics resulted in the festival being shut down.
In court documents filed by festival organizers Future Sound Asia in the U.K. High Court, they claim that the 1975 and their management team were aware of the numerous prohibitions the band had to abide by in order to perform. They point out the band previously performed at the festival in 2016 and were told of the prohibitions then and were reminded multiple times again ahead of the performance last summer.
These included swearing, smoking and drinking on stage, taking off clothes and talking about politics or religion.
Further guidelines issues by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (PUSPAL) included a ban on “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves.”
The band, who were paid $350,000 to perform, agreed to abide by the rules in order to take part in the festival.
The lawsuit states that PUSPAL initially rejected the band’s application to perform last summer due to a 2018 article about Matty Healy’s drug addiction and subsequent recovery but after the band appealed, promising Healy would adhere to “all local guidelines and regulations,” the application was granted.
However, the lawsuit says the night before the festival the 1975 decided they “should not perform at the music festival” and discussed what action to take before changing their mind and agreeing to go ahead with the performance. But in protest they decided to play “a completely different setlist” and “act in way that were intended to breach the Guidelines” including Healy making a “provocative speech” and taking part in a “long pretend passionate embrace” between Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald “with the intention of causing offence and breaching the regulations and the terms of the agreement”
The band also planned to smuggle a bottle of wine onto the stage next to the main drum kit so Healy “could have easy access.”
The lawsuit accuses Healy of drinking alcohol, acting “in a drunken way,” smoking cigarettes “appear[ing] to vomit on the stage and/or grunt and spit excessively including towards the audience,” delivering a “profanity-laden speech” and deliberatively damaging a video drone hired by the festival organisers.
Following the kiss PUSPAL officers ordered the band to stop their performance at which point Healy was “very aggressive” towards them, the lawsuit alleges, “swearing at them and others” to the point that he had to be restrained by his managers.
The day after the performance, the organizers’ license was revoked and the remaining two days of the music festival – which were set to include performances from both local and international bands such as the Strokes — were canceled.
Immediately after leaving the festival, the lawsuit states, the band and their management had “rushed to their hotels” to collect their luggage so they could leave the country the first thing the following morning as quickly as possible as they were aware the performance had breached Malaysian law.
Healy has since claimed he was “briefly imprisoned” by Malaysian authorities following his on-stage protest.
As Variety reported last summer, Future Sound Asia issued a letter to the band claiming breach of contract within weeks of the furore and demanding $2 million.
The band have not yet filed a defence to the lawsuit. A rep for the 1975 declined to comment.
From Variety US