The 1975 sued for $2.4million by Good Vibes Festival over Matty Healy and Ross MacDonald kiss incident

nme.com:

The 1975 have been sued for $2.4million (£1.9 million) by Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia over the band’s kissing incident from last year.While performing at the festival as 2023 headliners in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, frontman Matty Healy criticised the Malaysian government and its anti-LGBTQ laws onstage and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald.

Their set was cut short and caused the remainder of the three-day festival to be cancelled by the authorities. Following their stint, the band were banned from performing in the country.Now, the festival organisers have filed a suit – which names each band member individually – seeking damages of $2.4million (£1.9million), citing that the band’s actions led the festival to be forced to shut down.According to court documents filed in the UK High Court (as seen by Variety), festival organisers Future Sound Asia (FSA) have claimed that The 1975 deliberately went against the festival’s restrictions that were given to them ahead of their performance.Those restrictions included swearing, smoking and drinking on stage, taking off clothes, and talking about politics or religion.

The organisers also claimed that Healy and co were made aware of specific rules issued by the Malaysia Central Agency for the Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (PUSPAL) which prohibited “kissing, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves.”Healy and co were paid $350,000 (£272,000) to perform and had agreed to abide by the rules in order to take part in the festival.The suit claimed that The 1975 had previously performed at the festival’s 2016 edition and were told of the restrictions then and were reminded various times again ahead of the.