Destinations known | The 1975 singer Matty Healy’s Malaysia rant exposes a dilemma: shouldn’t a lack of respect from tourists from liberal societies invited to less tolerant ones be expected?

Through slick tourism videos, people from liberal societies are routinely invited to visit less tolerant countries looking to benefit from their visits

Might we suggest that if they want the upside from tourism, local communities should perhaps be prepared to forgive the odd bit of high-horsery

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The 1975 singer Matty Healy kisses bandmate Ross MacDonald during a concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in July 2023. The singer’s onstage LGBTQ-related rant raises questions about tourists visiting less tolerant countries than their own.

Mark Footer

Published: 5:56pm, 26 Jul 2023Updated: 6:08pm, 26 Jul 2023

Promotional tourism videos don’t come with small print.

Matty Healy, the singer of British band The 1975, made an interesting comment at the beginning of the rant that, together with an onstage kiss, led to him and his band being “banned from Kuala Lumpur”, the shutdown of the three-day Good Vibes Festival and an investigation into its organisers by the Malaysian authorities.

“I made a mistake. When we were booking shows I wasn’t looking into it. I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”

He was referring to the fact homosexuality is frowned upon – and is indeed a crime – in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

It’s perhaps understandable that a band on an international tour might not bone up on the cultural sensitivities of the countries they are visiting, but how aware and respectful should international tourists be of the attitudes prevalent in the places they’re flying into?

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Destinations known | The 1975 singer Matty Healy’s Malaysia rant exposes a dilemma: shouldn’t a lack of respect from tourists from liberal societies invited to less tolerant ones be expected?

Destinations known | The 1975 singer Matty Healy’s Malaysia rant exposes a dilemma: shouldn’t a lack of respect from tourists from liberal societies invited to less tolerant ones be expected?