The 1975 Singer Matty Healy’s Most Controversial Moments

Credit: Angelo Joseph/Shutterstock

The 1975 Singer Matty Healy’s Most Controversial Moments

Making headlines for more than just the music. Matty Healy has been raising eyebrows for years as The 1975 continues to find success. Months before Healy was linked to Taylor Swift following her split from Joe Alwyn, the English rocker made waves for kissing fans on stage at various shows. He ditched the tradition during a January 2023 show — because Swift was there to surprise fans with a performance of “Anti-Hero.” "I'm not kissing anybody in front of Taylor Swift, have some respect. In front of the queen, it's not happening," Healy told the crowd. One month later, he was under fire for a podcast he recorded with hosts Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen. During the episode, the three men mocked Ice Spice and Healy laughed as Friedland and Mullen mimicked Chinese and Hawaiian accents. The “Robbers” singer also recalled an NSFW story about masturbating to brutalized women. Healy later apologized to Ice Spice on stage, saying in part: “I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a d—k. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.” [sendtonews type="float" key="FBTB7XcZko-2828872-14453"] While he didn’t directly address other controversial comments from the February 2023 podcast, he told the crowd he was “embarrassed,” according to Rolling Stone. “The truth is, I see a sign that says like, ‘Matty, I hope you’re OK.’ I feel a bit bad, to be honest, because I feel like I’ve been a bit irresponsible,” he said in April 2023. “It’s very well for me to say, I don’t understand how famous I am. I don’t like being famous. But reality is reality. And I think that I’ve said some things or kind of, I make a joke out of everything. That’s my thing. And I can take it too far sometimes in front of too many people. And I feel a bit embarrassed. So that’s the truth.” An insider has since confirmed to Us Weekly that Healy and Swift had reconnected after a “brief” fling “years ago” as they “run in the same circle of friends.” “They’re looking to give things a second chance,” the source said in May 2023, adding that the Grammy winner “really likes” Healy and is “happy spending time with him.” A second source added that the duo “have been hanging out and are having fun together” as “they both respect and admire each other’s talent. They have a lot of mutual friends, including Jack Antonoff.” However, Us confirmed in June 2023 that the pair had called off their whirlwind romance. “Taylor and Matty are no longer romantically involved,” a source exclusively shared at the time. “They had fun together, but it was never serious.” Following news of their breakup, Healy ended one of The 1975’s concerts with a rare performance of the song “102.” He appeared somber on stage as he sang about a lost love. Scroll through for a breakdown of Healy’s controversial moments:

Credit: Angelo Joseph/Shutterstock

The 1975 Singer Matty Healy’s Most Controversial Moments

Making headlines for more than just the music. Matty Healy has been raising eyebrows for years as The 1975 continues to find success. Months before Healy was linked to Taylor Swift following her split from Joe Alwyn, the English rocker made waves for kissing fans on stage at various shows. He ditched the tradition during a January 2023 show — because Swift was there to surprise fans with a performance of “Anti-Hero.” "I'm not kissing anybody in front of Taylor Swift, have some respect. In front of the queen, it's not happening," Healy told the crowd. One month later, he was under fire for a podcast he recorded with hosts Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen. During the episode, the three men mocked Ice Spice and Healy laughed as Friedland and Mullen mimicked Chinese and Hawaiian accents. The “Robbers” singer also recalled an NSFW story about masturbating to brutalized women. Healy later apologized to Ice Spice on stage, saying in part: “I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a d—k. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.” [sendtonews type="float" key="FBTB7XcZko-2828872-14453"] While he didn’t directly address other controversial comments from the February 2023 podcast, he told the crowd he was “embarrassed,” according to Rolling Stone. “The truth is, I see a sign that says like, ‘Matty, I hope you’re OK.’ I feel a bit bad, to be honest, because I feel like I’ve been a bit irresponsible,” he said in April 2023. “It’s very well for me to say, I don’t understand how famous I am. I don’t like being famous. But reality is reality. And I think that I’ve said some things or kind of, I make a joke out of everything. That’s my thing. And I can take it too far sometimes in front of too many people. And I feel a bit embarrassed. So that’s the truth.” An insider has since confirmed to Us Weekly that Healy and Swift had reconnected after a “brief” fling “years ago” as they “run in the same circle of friends.” “They’re looking to give things a second chance,” the source said in May 2023, adding that the Grammy winner “really likes” Healy and is “happy spending time with him.” A second source added that the duo “have been hanging out and are having fun together” as “they both respect and admire each other’s talent. They have a lot of mutual friends, including Jack Antonoff.” However, Us confirmed in June 2023 that the pair had called off their whirlwind romance. “Taylor and Matty are no longer romantically involved,” a source exclusively shared at the time. “They had fun together, but it was never serious.” Following news of their breakup, Healy ended one of The 1975’s concerts with a rare performance of the song “102.” He appeared somber on stage as he sang about a lost love. Scroll through for a breakdown of Healy’s controversial moments:

Credit: Claude Yao Sahi @hijoshotit / SplashNews.com

A Dig at Dating Taylor

Healy referred to rumors he was dating Swift as “emasculating” back in 2016.

“She wasn’t a big impact on my life,” he told Q Magazine at the time. “It’s just interesting to me how interested the world is about Taylor Swift. The reason I mention that is because if I had [properly] gone out with Taylor Swift, I would’ve been, ‘F–king hell, I am not being Taylor Swift’s boyfriend.’ You know, ‘F–k. That.’ That’s also a man thing, a demasculinating [sic], emasculating thing.”

Healy later denied that he was throwing “shade,” explaining that he didn’t understand why he was asked about Swift so often after she attended one of his shows in 2014.

“I have said on countless occasions that I found her to be one of the most gracious, hard working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women that I have had the pleasure to meet,” he tweeted at the time, per Elle. “I personally have a lot of respect and admiration for her. Why would I not?”’

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Kissing Fans

Healy has been known to bring fans on stage to make out, with a concert goer at a November 2022 show in Vegas posting on social media that he asked permission before they smooched. Days later, Healy kissed a male fan and it wasn’t the first time he locked lips with the same sex. Back in 2019, he kissed a male fan in Dubai to make a point against United Arab Emirates laws.

“Thank you, Dubai, you were so amazing. I don’t think we’ll be allowed back due to my 'behaviour’, but know that I love you and I wouldn’t have done anything differently given the chance again,” he tweeted at the time.

Credit: Angelo Joseph/Shutterstock

The Raw Meat

Healy went viral in November 2022 when he appeared to chow down on raw meat during his show at Madison Square Garden. According to a review from NME of the show, the musician also touched himself while sitting on a couch on stage, telling the crowd: “I’m sorry if you came with your dad and I was touching my d—k. It’s your fault for bringing your dad.”

He made waves for the same steak bit in January 2023, but has yet to publicly comment on the food drama.

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The Commentary on Kanye’s Antisemitism

In a video from a January 2023 show, Healy appeared to do a Nazi salute while marching on stage as he performed “Love it If We Made It.” He made the apparent gesture as he sang the lyrics from the track, “Thank you, Kanye, very cool.” At the time, West was under fire for various antisemitic remarks.

The line in the song — which reads in full, “‘I moved on her like a bitch,’ excited to be indicted / Unrequited house with seven pools, ‘Thank you, Kanye, very cool’ / The war has been incited, and guess what? You’re all invited / And you’re famous, modernity has failed us" — is seemingly a slam at former President Donald Trump, who tweeted “Thank you, Kanye, very cool” in 2018.

Healy never commented on the controversy but slammed West in a February 2023 interview. “He’s obviously someone who is dealing with grief and has mental health issues, but that’s not an excuse to do, like, antisemitism,” he said, adding that’s all for the “blurring of boundaries” but thinks West went too far.

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Mocking Ice Spice

Healy, Friedland and Mullen were accused of making fun of Ice Spice, whom Mullen called an “Inuit Spice Girl” and a “chubby Chinese lady” during the aforementioned February 2023 episode of “The Adam Friedland Show.”

“Yeah, that's what Ice Spice is like,” Healy responded as he laughed at Friedland and Mullen.

He later apologized on stage, saying in part: “I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you. 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 d—k. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.”

In May 2023 — amid his rekindled romance with Swift — the "Love Story" singer announced that Ice Spice would be on the remix of her hit "Karma." The "Maroon" songstress, who called herself a "massive fan" of the "Princess Diana" rapper, raved about Ice Spice in her social media announcement, calling her a "brilliant artist" who is "THE ONE to watch."

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Watching ’Brutalized’ Women Porn

During the same podcast appearance, Healy recalled being walked in on as he masturbated to "Ghetto Gaggers,” a porn website that features the degradation of women of color.

“It was 30 seconds [after this girl Olive left], like, you guys were still waiting outside, she came back in, I was already flustered,” he said. "I was, like, dressed as 'guy who is jacking off,' so I had, like, untucked shirt. Like you said, I think it literally was, like, Ghetto Gaggers was on the TV. It's just somebody just getting, like, brutalized. … I’m like, ‘It’s fine, it’s OK.’ 10 minutes would have been fine, but 30 seconds was, like, I was worried that was almost offensive.”

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Matty Doubles Down on Ice Spice, Porn Comments

When asked about his aforementioned offensive comments on "The Adam Friedland Show" Healy told The New Yorker in May 2023 that he was baiting fans "a little bit, but it doesn't actually matter."

"Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen," the musician said. "If it does, you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar. You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt. It’s just people going, ‘Oh, there’s a bad thing over there, let me get as close to it as possible so you can see how good I am.’ And I kind of want them to do that, because they’re demonstrating something so base level.”