The 1975 back out of Indonesia shows after ban from Malaysia over gay kiss

Following a ban in Malaysia due to an on-stage same-sex kiss, The 1975, a British band, has opted to cancel their scheduled shows in Taiwan and Indonesia, where a majority of the population follows the Muslim faith.

The band was scheduled to perform in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population. Although homosexuality is not illegal in most parts of Indonesia, including Jakarta, it remains a taboo subject and has faced opposition from Islamic groups.

Whereas Taiwan is also a country where homosexuality is legal and is considered a LGBTQ friendly country.

“The band never takes the decision to cancel a show lightly and had been eagerly looking forward to playing for fans in Jakarta and Taipei but unfortunately, due to current circumstances, it is impossible to proceed with the scheduled shows.”

This comes after frontman Healy’s charged speech during the concert at Kuala Lumpur which was followed by an on-stage kiss between him and bassist Ross.

“I don’t see the fucking point of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” Healy said. “Unfortunately you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m fucking furious.”

However, some people from Malaysia’s LGBTQ community were angry about Healy’s actions and said that it would lead to even more discrimination

Carmen Rose, a Malaysian drag queen, told the BBC Healy’s actions were “performative” and “unruly”. “If he was doing it for our community,” she added, “he would know what consequences we would have to go through.”