Malaysia halts music festival after same-sex kiss by The 1975 singer

A music festival in Malaysia has been canceled after the lead singer of British band The 1975 Matty Healy slammed the country's anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed a bandmate on stage.

The on-stage incident at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night prompted the country's Ministry of Communications to cancel the rest of the three-day event.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Malaysia and punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison.

In an expletive-laden speech during the band's headline performance on Friday, captured in a video shared widely on social media, Healy said, "I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with."

"Unfortunately, you don't get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I'm f***ing furious. And that's not fair on you, because you're not representative of your government. You are young people, and I'm sure a lot of you are gay and progressive," he said addressing the audience. Healy added that the band considered canceling the show but decided against it to not disappoint the fans.

"If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f*** off. I'll take your money, you can ban me, but I've done this before and it doesn't feel good," Healy says in the video before bassist Ross MacDonald walks up to him and kisses him on stage.

The Good Vibes Festival said in a statement following the incident, "We deeply regret to announce that the remaining schedule of the Good Vibes Festival 2023, planned for today and tomorrow has been canceled following the controversial conduct and remarks made by UK artist Matty Healy from the band The 1975."