The 1975 Sued by Good Vibes Festival for RM11.25 Million Following Gay Kiss Leading to Festival Cancellation

Nearly one year after the infamous incident, American portal Variety has shared exclusive news that the organiser of the Good Vibes Festival (GVF) is filing a lawsuit against the band and all its members individually for a whopping £1.9 million (RM11.25 million) for causing the festival's cancellation.

Court documents

According to court documents filed by festival organisers Future Sound Asia in the UK 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 also pointed out that the band previously performed at the festival in 2016, was told of the prohibitions then, and was reminded multiple times before the performance last summer.

Furthermore, guidelines issued 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 1975 agreed to abide by the rules to take part in GVF and were paid $350,000 (RM1.6 million) to perform.

According to the lawsuit, the night before the festival, the band 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.

In protest, they decided to play “a completely different setlist” and “act in a way that was 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 lawsuit accuses Healy of drinking alcohol, acting “in a drunken way,” smoking cigarettes, “appearing [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.

He said, “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it. I don’t see the f–king point … of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.” He continued, “I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious … but your government is a bunch of f–king r–s. I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the f–king mood.”

Additionally, the 1975 also planned to smuggle a bottle of wine onto the stage next to the main drum kit so Healy “could have easy access.”

To refresh your memory, the band’s frontman, Matty Healy, kissed his bandmate bassist Ross MacDonald onstage.

What happened next?

After the controversial kiss, PUSPAL officers ordered the band to stop their performance Healy was then “very aggressive” towards them, the lawsuit alleges, “swearing at them and others” to the point that he had to be restrained by his managers.

Consequently, the day after the performance, the license of organisers Future Sound Asia was revoked. The remaining two out of three days of GVF, which was to feature the Strokes, was also cancelled.

The lawsuit also states that the band and their management had “rushed to their hotels” to collect their luggage so they could leave the country as quickly as possible the first thing the following morning. This was because they were aware the performance had breached Malaysian law. Additionally, Healy has since claimed he was “briefly imprisoned” by Malaysian authorities following his on-stage protest.

According to Variety, the band has not yet filed a defence to the lawsuit, and a rep for the 1975 has declined to comment.