The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas shares his thoughts on The 1975’s Malaysia LGBTQ controversy
The Strokes‘ Julian Casablancas has shared his thoughts on The 1975‘s recent controversy in Malaysia that saw them banned for taking a stance on LGBTQ matters on stage.Last weekend, The 1975’s set at Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur was cut short – and later, the rest of the festival was cancelled – after frontman Matty Healy criticised anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed bassist Ross MacDonald onstage.During their headline performance on Friday (July 21), Healy called out the Malaysian government and said: “I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”Since then, The 1975 have been banned from performing in the country, and the frontman has received backlash from Malaysia’s LGBTQ+ community, claiming that his actions undermined years of action by local activists.The 1975 are now also potentially facing a class action lawsuit by Malaysian artists and festival vendors over the festival’s cancellation.The Strokes’ Casablancas, who was unable to perform at Good Vibes Festival with his band, shared on social media this weekend that they are currently working on a way to perform in Malaysia.The frontman then elaborated on his thoughts regarding the controversy in an Instagram reply, writing: “it def helped the white outsider awareness yes, for sure… i felt the same.
had no idea. but when you look into it, it likely will change little to nothing in Malaysia. it’s like saying you helped awareness of injustices in n korea … not one of those situations where twitter pressure’s gonna work, they don’t care, govt is intense there.”Los fans del Matty Healy atacando a Julian solo por escupir verdades.
