Tom DeLonge has said he will not go to Malaysia after sharing a kiss with The 1975‘s Matty Healy while at Lollapalooza in Chicago.
DeLonge, who watched The 1975 perform at Lollapalooza over the weekend, took to Instagram to share a screengrab of he and Matty Healy embracing mid-set. “I guess myself ‘AND’ The 1975 won’t be going to Malaysia – just a couple of dudes kissing during their phenomenal set at Lollapalooza.
See the post below. In a separate post, DeLonge shared a video of the embrace, during which Healy kissed DeLonge on the cheek. DeLonge wrote: “The 1975 blew me away at Lollapalooza… Great fucking band. [Matty Healy] even gave me a quick kiss as a first time hello.”
It is currently unclear if Tom DeLonge’s comments effectively rule out potential Blink-182 concerts in Malaysia in the future.
DeLonge’s comments come after Matty Healy and The 1975 were banned from Malaysia after criticising the country’s government for anti-LGBTQ laws during their headlining set at Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival.
During the set, which took place on July 21 – day one of the three-day festival – Healy, who was drinking onstage, smashed a festival-operated drone and kissed bassist Ross MacDonald. The set was cut short and the next day, the remainder of the three-day festival was ordered cancelled by the authorities and the band was banned from performing in the country.
Following The 1975’s actions at Good Vibes, the Malaysian LGBTQ+ community have condemned Healy, suggesting Healy’s actions would make life for the LGBTQ+ community in the country worse.
The following week, Muse became the first international act to perform in Kuala Lumpur since the Good Vibes ordeal. In the lead up to the concert, Adam Ashraf, a founder of concert promoter Hello Universe revealed that the band had removed a song from their setlist to better suit the country’s performance guidelines. It was later revealed by Muse drummer Dominic Howard that the group decided to play ‘Resistance’ instead of ‘We Are Fucking Fucked’.
The band are potentially facing a class action lawsuit which is being readied by Malaysian law firm Thomas Philip. The suit will name all four members of The 1975 and seek compensation over losses suffered as a result of the incident, which the firm’s founder and managing partner Matthew Thomas Philip labelled a “deliberate reckless act done knowing well [sic] of the consequences”.
Elsewhere during their Lollapalooza set, The 1975 poked fun at the Malaysia controversy before performing ‘It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You’. Typically, the band have a gag where Healy begins to say something controversial and then the band cut him off with the beginning riff of the song. While performing the song during their set at this year’s Lollapalooza, Healy said: “You want my travel tip? Don’t go to…” before getting cut off by the start of the track.
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