Matty Healy and Ice Spice controversy explained amid Taylor Swift’s new collab

Taylor Swift announced on Wednesday, May 24th, 2023, that she is remixing her song Karma featuring rapper Ice Spice, to be featured in the deluxe version of her Midnights album.

The new music release came a month after Swift’s rumoured boyfriend, Matty Healy offered an ‘almost apology’ to the Bronx-born rapper after he made a slew of offensive remarks at her expense.

In January 2023, The 1975 frontman appeared on the podcast The Adam Friedland Show with the comedian and co-host Nick Mullen.

During the interview, the Chocolate singer mentioned that he tried to message rapper Ice Spice on Instagram. At that point, the co-hosts mocked her name and participated in racist insults towards Chinese, Hawaiian and Inuit people by doing mocking accents, via StyleCaster.

One of the hosts responded to Matty, “Inuit Spice Girl,” and continued “This chubby Chinese lady. ‘Yeah, I rap and [make] music.’ Do they talk like that? Do Inuits talk like that?” Though Matty didn’t participate, he did laugh along with the hosts.

Moreover, the podcast and comments came after she revealed that she was a big The 1975 fan, and has not commented on the incident.

The podcast has since been taken down on all podcast platforms but is currently still up on YouTube.

Following the backlash, the Somebody Else singer apologised to Ice Spice during The 1975 At Their Very Best tour.

“I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you,” Matty told the audience in Auckland, New Zealand. “Ice Spice, I’m sorry. It’s not because I’m annoyed that me joking got misconstrued. It’s because I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.”