KUALA LUMPUR – British pop rock band The 1975 is being sued for £1.9 million (RM11 million) by a Malaysian music festival organiser for their antics during a performance last year which led to the festival’s shutdown.
Future Sound Asia, Good Vibes Asia 2023 organiser, stated the amount in court documents filed at the UK High Court, entertainment magazine Variety reported.
The band and all its members individually are being sued for their performance at the festival in July 2023 where lead singer Matty Healy’s tirade against Malaysian anti-LGBTQ laws and kiss with a male bandmate led to the festival’s closure and the organiser’s run-in with the authorities.
The suit accuses Healy of drinking alcohol, acting “in a drunken way,” smoking cigarettes”, “spitting at the audience” delivering a “profanity-laden speech”, and damaging a video drone hired by the organisers.
The court filing states that The 1975 and its management knew of the prohibitions imposed by local authorities they must comply with to perform.
The band had also previously performed in Malaysia in 2016 and would have known of the imposed restrictions.
Future Sound Asia also asserted the band had agreed to follow the rules to take part in the festival. They were paid US$350,000 (RM1.6 million) for the set.
The filing also notes that the band initially decided not to perform at Good Vibes last year, but changed their minds and performed a different set list besides acting “in a way that was intended to breach the guidelines”.
This included Healy making a “provocative speech” and making a “long pretend-passionate embrace” with bassist Ross MacDonald “with the intention of causing offence and breaching the regulations and the terms of the agreement”, the court document stated.
It also asserted that a bottle of wine was deliberately brought secretly on stage for Healy.
Future Sound Asia also stated that the frontman and the band knew they had breached Malaysian law in their act of rushing back to their hotel to collect their luggage to leave the country immediately the next morning.
Variety said the band have yet to file a defence to the suit. Scoop reported Future Sound Asia’s intention to sue The 1975 last year following the fiasco.
After Healy’s on-stage antics, the band was forced to cut their set short for failing to comply with conditions set by the government.
Following the incident, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil ordered the immediate cancellation of Good Vibes Festival 2023. – July 31, 2024