Maybe we are about to have a war between two English bands over a matter that takes place in Malaysia. The 1975's Matt Healy did some things to get an entire festival canceled about a week ago. But this past weekend, Muse not only played in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, but before the gig they appeased Malaysian authorities by removing a song from their pre-planned setlist.
And if you think that sounds complicated, there's more. Much more. But first, a quick recap of what The 1975 did to create a bit of chaos.
A bit over a week ago a music festival called Good Vibes, The 1975 took the stage and then Healy gave a monologue about how peeved he was at different things, including the laws the Malaysian government has in place to oppress members of the LGBTQ+ community. Then, Healy kissed bassist Ross MacDonald. The entire thing caused the festival to cancel the rest of the performances.
Is Matt Healy of The 1975 right about what he thinks of Muse playing Malaysia?
But Muse, a band whose most recent album is called Will of the People and likes to use the hashtag #JoinTheMovement, played this past weekend in Kuala Lumpur becoming the first massively popular foreign band to play in the capital since the Good Vibes festival was stopped. Muse reportedly called the organizers of the concert shortly after the Good Vibes incident to confirm they are still playing and decided to remove an unnamed song from the setlist to avoid any hint of controversy.
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Matt Healy appears to have had an issue with Muse playing and called out what he perceived as hypocrisy on his Instagram page. Healy shared a screenshot of a Muse pre-order that says "JOIN THE RESISTANCE // ALBUM PRE-ORDER" and then shared a news post about Muse removing the song from the setlist. Clearly, the point Healy wanted to make was that Muse may be all talk and no show - the band was playing a part of being part of a "resistance" but they themselves gave in to a foreign government so as not to offend is like Healy's thought process.
But while Healy may have had the best of intentions in having an on-stage protest against Malaysia draconian laws towards the LGBTQ+ community, he also may have caused more harm than good. There appears to be social media backlash towards The 1975 from people of the LGBTQ+ community in Malaysia saying what he did hurt their cause for human rights. The country might be more quick to punish people now that someone has made the world know about the governments bigotry.
Another way of looking at this is that a band might have a large following in the LGBTQ+ community and is that band refusing to go the country because of the oppressive laws even further hurting the community? In that situation, the people of the community have a difficult enough time in daily life and one of their ways of escapism is to hear a band like Muse. If the band then refuses to play live where an oppressed person can see them, that makes life even sadder.