The 1975's Matt Healy speaks out over Dubai incident with fan: 'I felt pretty irresponsible'
The 1975 frontman received criticism from people who feared for the fan’s safety after the incident
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Your support makes all the difference.The 1975‘s frontman Matty Healy has claimed he was threatened with arrest in Dubai after he engaged in a consensual kiss with a male fan during a concert in August last year.
At the event, a fan apparently held up a sign that read: “Marry me.” Healy went to hug the fan and then kissed him on the mouth after the fan requested it.
Homosexual acts are illegal under United Arab Emirates law and can incur a jail term and fines.
“They [the venue] had given me a list of shit that I couldn’t do and they said there could be no ‘gay propaganda’,” Healy told The Sunday Times.
“As soon as the big gay pride flag comes up in the show all the security guys come running down to the side of the stage, trying to pull us off it.”
After Healy kissed the fan, “it was all kicking off” when the band came off stage. “They were going to arrest me,” he claimed.
Addressing criticism that followed the kiss as it was pointed out that Healy may have endangered the fan’s life, he said: “I was going to go down to the police station and hand myself in.”
He then managed to find the fan on Instagram and checked whether he was OK – he apparently told Healy he was having “the best night of his life”.
“We managed to get out [of the country] that night, at five in the morning,” Healy said.
“When I got to Japan I was reading about it and I felt pretty irresponsible and then a bit, well, ‘F*** that’. Of course I’m not going to put people in danger, but I genuinely want to be an ally for people who don’t have a voice if I happen to have this big voice in pop culture. Those are the fundamental things I stand for.”
In the same interview, Healy confirmed he personally identifies as straight.
The 1975’s new album, Notes on a Conditional Form, is due for release on 22 May.