On Saturday, July 22, Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival 2023 was canceled per a government directive. According to an official statement from Good Vibes festival (shared via Stereogum’s Instagram), the Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital moved to cancel the festival after the UK artist Matty Healy from The 1975 spoke out on stage against Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed fellow band member Ross MacDonald. Read the full statement from Good Vibes Festival below.
Healy and The 1975 were banned from performing in Malaysia as a result of their protest. Onstage, Healy was heard saying “I’m f***ing furious, and that’s not fair on you because you’re not representative of your government… Because you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool. So, I pulled the show yesterday, I pulled the show yesterday, and we had a conversation and we said, ‘You know what, we can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government…’ F***ing ridiculous to tell people what they can do with that and that. 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, and I’m f***ed off.”
The festival will be working on issuing refunds towards festival goers and participants in the near future.
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