Photo: Mauricio Santana / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
Festival organizers in Malaysia are getting serious about The 1975 paying up. The promoters of the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur are asking the band to pay close to 2.5 million dollars for damages following frontman Matty Healy calling out Malaysia's LGBTW-plus laws and kissing another bandmate on stage. If The 1975 don't pay, Future Sound Asia are threatening to take them to court in England. The festival's lawyer, David Matthew says the band got into a contract with the promoters and breached the contract by not abiding to local laws and guidelines.
Good Vibe Festival organizers recently told Billboard that the cancellation of what was intended to be a three-day festival has left the event in financial ruin and could limit future concerts in the country for years to come. As reported by Billboard, the company likely already paid out artist deposits for the entire festival and might soon be required to issue refunds to fans, depending on an outcome of an investigation by the Malaysian government.
“The Band’s actions intentionally contravened the agreement they had with FSA for their
performance at GVF2023,” today’s statement continues. “This breach led to the festival’s cancellation, resulting in significant financial losses for FSA and negatively impacting local artists and businesses that depended on the festival’s success — affecting the livelihoods of many Malaysians.”