The 1975’s Matt Healy just came out as an ‘aesthete’
The 1975 singer Matty Healy (Xavi Torrent/Redferns)
The 1975 lead singer Matt Healy has addressed the backlash that followed his decision to kiss a male fan on-stage in Dubai in August.
When The 1975 performed in Dubai, lead singer Matt Healy brought a male fan up on stage and kissed him in protest of the country’s archaic anti-homosexuality laws.
While the singer was widely praised for the act, he also faced criticism from social media commenters who said his actions could put the fan in danger.
In a new interview for Attitude magazine’s Activists and Allies issue, Healy defended the stunt.
.@the1975’s @Truman_Black, queen of daytime TV @reallorraine and the LGBTQ campaigners changing your world lead Attitude’s January ‘Activists & Allies’ issue, out now ✊❤️?️?https://t.co/7RJxjkkI3d
Download: https://t.co/JlF5CPusfE
Order globally: https://t.co/8IKiYPNuKB pic.twitter.com/J6oRuri8Q8
— Attitude (@AttitudeMag) December 5, 2019
The 1975 singer Matt Healy reached out to the male fan following Dubai gig to make sure he was alright.
“My shows are gay and it was the gayest gig I’ve ever done,” he said.
But Healy became understandably concerned when his social media channels were flooded with criticism claiming that the man could be endangered or even prosecuted for the on-stage kiss.
He reached out to the guy’s friend on Twitter and asked if he was alright.
“He replied: ‘What do you mean? We’re in a bar, it was the best night of my life,’” Healy said.
People just imagine things and present them as fact and it pisses me off.
“I was like, ‘I read some s**t,’ and sent them links to what people were saying. They went on Twitter, saying: ‘Don’t f**king do that.’ People just imagine things and present them as fact and it pisses me off,” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Healy opened up about his own sexuality. While he has been open in his support of the LGBT+ community, he has shied away from defining how he identifies before now.
Healy explained that he is an “aesthete” meaning he has an “objective view of beauty”.
Healy is an ‘aesthete’ and has ‘an objective view of beauty.’
“I tend not to talk about my sexuality that explicitly because I don’t really have to and all things are subject to change,” he said.
“I’m an aesthete… I see things as objectively beautiful, so men can be objectively beautiful.”
However, Healy said that he couldn’t imagine himself having sex with a man. He said that he has “kissed beautiful men” but added: “I don’t want to f**k them.”
Following the August gig in Dubai, Healy tweeted: “I don’t think we’ll be allowed back due to my behaviour but know that I love you.”
He added that given the chance, he “wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
While performing at Reading festival later that month, Healy spoke on-stage about Dubai’s archaic ban on homosexuality.
“I really liked that boy and I am pretty sure he liked that kiss,” Healy said, according to BBC News.
He continued: “It is not me that needs to change, it is the world that needs changing.”
