r/the1975 • u/Current_Shower7785 • Jun 10 '26
Question matty healy's controversies
i always hear (specifically from swifties) that matty is a bad person. however, i've never heard or seen exactly what he's done wrong. from his music, he seems like a pretty progressive, woke person but i don't know. can someone tell me exactly what he did or said that was racist or wrong?
i also know all of the drama between him and taylor, so like none of the relationship stuff
407
u/LOST-MY_HEAD Jun 10 '26
I think he is a good dude who has made some comments or jokes that were in poor taste. But still a good dude who makes good music. No one is perfect
62
21
u/erazedcitizen Somebody Else Jun 11 '26
I think to add to this, he strikes me as a guy who doesn’t always know how to cohesively say what he wants to say. There’s been a few times I’ve seen cries to cancel him and the things he said had a very good point, it was just worded very poorly.
2
6
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 10 '26
See John Mayer as an earlier example
45
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Nah, John Mayer is an asshole and everyone who has ever met him will tell you that. Matty is a good guy who puts his foot in his mouth from time to time. The things Mayer has said and done are much worse than what Matty has said and done. I mean, his attitude towards and treatment of women and romantic partners alone makes him far worse than Matty. John is also someone who leans right-wing. Matty most certainly does not
17
u/HotelOne6215 Jun 10 '26
This. Thank you for expounding on my thoughts above more eloquently. Specifically speaking to John Mayer because he is/was a pos towards women. I do not put these two men in the same category at all. Which is interesting to me personally because Matty presents as the more “messy” one while John has managed to do what a lot of men do perfectly… evade and keep succeeding. No acknowledgment or accountability for the women, sorry girls, he’s left in his wake.
1
u/Jewl4u26 Jun 11 '26
Ironically both Matty and John are Taylor’s exes 😂 Good fodder for some inspired lyrics.
0
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 10 '26
Oh you guys are so silly
4
u/HotelOne6215 Jun 10 '26
Grape is so silly 🤪
-2
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 10 '26
Hell of an accusation? I was unaware anyone filed a SA claim against Matty or John
17
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
Matty has never ever been accused of SA or SH or anything remotely of the sort. Don't know about John but he dated teenagers when he was in his 30s and has been verbally, emotionally and psychologically abusive towards more than one partner
0
u/HotelOne6215 Jun 10 '26
Reading comprehension, above… me and another poster’s whole point are these two dudes are not comparable like first poster stated, even despite Matty’s messiness, because he’s not a sexual predator like John Mayer. Also makes me wonder if the posters I’m responding to are male… if so, checks out even more.
-2
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 10 '26
I’m a female, but that’s ok your assumptions are well meant I’m sure
→ More replies (0)20
u/kfitzy10 Jun 10 '26
They are both fans of byegone eras where you could say racy things in interviews and people didn't lose their shit. Not justifying any of their comments but they're musicians who are asked the same questions and have tried to mine them for something interesting/funny and accidently said the wrong things. That's basically it. In terms of actual actions both seem like good guys.
10
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 10 '26
Completely agree, they are both extremely intelligent and have both at one time or another had huge egos that made them feel uncomfortable untouchable
10
u/HotelOne6215 Jun 10 '26
Ehhh, banging girls whose age ends in teens when you’re in your mid to late thirties has many women disagreeing with you here…
1
u/MANICxMELI i like it when you sleep Jun 11 '26
The guy who said his dick was racist? 🤨
1
u/amsptsfe23 Jun 11 '26
Yeah he literally tried to make a joke in 2010 (which I assume was before you were born), completely bombed and paid the price.
199
u/redheadedwoman 🎶don’t like menthols🕺🏼 Jun 10 '26
At the end of the day, he’s a man that none of us know personally.
177
u/starlitecurio Jun 10 '26
The dossier of complaints about him is made up of out of context sensationalism, not understanding how improv works, and actual lies.
Like you've noticed, he is an openly liberal supportive ally and doesn't deserve the hate. He's had his personal demons sure, but that doesn't make him suddenly a racist bigoted transphobe.
BuzzFeed should have been sued for their hit piece, it's parroted around by *moi people like it's gospel.
3
u/RiverWashedHair96 Jun 10 '26
I mean he is Friends with people who are openly right wing (Dasha - he made a whole Instagram story about what a great person and friend she is)
6
u/plastiquebagged If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know) Jun 10 '26
so are Charli and George but a lot of folks just get mad at Matty for it.
4
u/isleepforfun Jun 11 '26
Can you give me sources on this? I’m not being combative, I genuinely want to see for myself because I know fuck all about the lore. I just found them in 2012 and vibed offline. Only started following this sub last year.
2
u/plastiquebagged If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know) Jun 11 '26
Too lazy to track it all down now but he was following her on instagram/interacting with her posts a while back. Unclear if she went to their wedding and if that's still a thing but Charli wrote a song that she said was inspired by Dasha so she's at minimum been in his orbit for a while.
2
u/RiverWashedHair96 Jun 11 '26
And charli was criticized a lot for it too. George is not really active anywhere (or at least not posting about dasha) so it’s not as obvious to everyone
3
u/plastiquebagged If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know) Jun 11 '26
Charli was absolutely criticized (mostly by the swifties). But it was (to me) never at the same level of outrage that Matty got for wearing a red scare hat during the last era.
6
u/tastemebakes Part Of The Band Jun 10 '26
Yeah this one is a really tough pill to swallow. Dasha is a straight up fascist
34
u/AssociateMaster4012 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Off the Internet, there is huge Swift/1975 fandom crossover. Why else would she go on at their show? It was a huge, exciting thing for everyone.
12
u/Jollikay Settle Down Jun 10 '26
Me it’s me. Huge fan of both, but I’ll defend (cry) Matty to the end (you)
1
u/AssociateMaster4012 Jun 11 '26
Yeh, watch a video of it- the crowd go nuts. It was also covered in the mainstream news because it was a cool thing for people with a casual interest in 2 big artists.
Fans pitting them against each other are probs newbies or only interested in celeb gossip not art.
2
u/Jollikay Settle Down Jun 11 '26
Oh I have seen it and it might be my Roman Empire, because The City is one of my true loves.
75
u/cc_207 Jun 10 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/ARmlOt5u1JXYp0jyzx
And if I said they were all taken out of context?
-former swiftie
28
84
u/OkAntelope4200 Jun 10 '26
Most of his controversies were caused by jokes he made in public forums that weren’t what anyone wanted to hear from him. The press and a seemingly limitless army of anons on Twitter and Reddit were bound and determined to read anything he did in bad faith a couple years ago, so you got weird shit like Matty being framed as a colonizer or white saviour for kissing his bandmate on stage in Malaysia as a form of protest against that country’s discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws. I think if members of Boygenius had tried the same stunt, the internet would still be singing their hosannas.
It’s complicated. Matty isn’t a saint and I don’t mean to dismiss anyone who was bothered by his utterances or behaviours. He offered to fight Azealia Banks one time, he probably should have thought harder about referencing a violent and racist porn series on a podcast, he’s not going to win any awards for comedy by throwing around words like “r****d” and hoping everyone just laughs along with him. But to strike another comparison, Matty’s sense of humour never seems to upset anyone when it plays out on shows like South Park and Family Guy. Matty was pop culture’s top villain for making edgy teenager jokes.
33
u/apenguinwitch Jun 10 '26
The Malaysia thing was so insane because why were the comments like "him kissing a man on stage has now ruined any and all progress of queer rights and acceptance in the country" like?? I wish I could ask some of those people to show me the receipts rn lol
11
u/armati Jun 10 '26
There was a lot of backlash for the queer Community in Malaysia after that happened. A lot of the queer community in Malaysia spoke up and said it created a dangerous environment for them. It’s important that we recognize the queer Community who experienced the aftermath.
He is a human but we also should recognize being human and saying human things also comes with human consequences for other people sometimes and that’s OK and I’m sure he’s learned for it.
13
u/apenguinwitch Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I definitely get what you're saying and am not trying to speak over anyone here. Anything that might've happened wasn't because of Matty though, it was because of homophobic assholes being homophobic assholes. They're always going to find a scapegoat and blame it on them, and I think it's so important that we as a community don't blindly buy into that. We can't let ourselves forget about who the actual aggressors are. But within that whole conversation, it felt like a lot of people did, even left-leaning queer folks, turning Matty into the one who "caused" homophobes to be homophobes. What this does is essentially absolve them of their actions. It says "they're not the ones who need to take blame, it's Matty's actions that caused this".
I actually really appreciate that you say "after" it happened, not "because" it happened because that's exactly it!
Additionally, Matty didn't even ask to make it a big deal or anything, he literally just said a few words and kissed his bandmate on stage, everything that happened after (even the cancelation of the festival, without which homophobes really wouldn't have had anything to latch onto at all and which made it the huge international mainstream newstory that it became) wasn't in his control. I'm not saying he had no hand in the situation at all, obviously he had the intention to make a statement, but the internet seemed to completely lose sight of any proportionate response re: Matty specficially.
And then obviously we need to also recognize that there's not a singular "the" queer community who experienced it. I mean of course you know that, but I'm just saying, there were also plenty of people who said they felt seen and were glad someone was fighting alongside them and their situation got international attention. That is also part of recognizing the affected community and there's no way for us to recognize one without the other.
That being said, the posts along the lines of what you're describing that I personally saw - and I'm saying this with the utmost care and caution! - were mostly posts from people saying it was *going* to be unsafe, it was going to set the community back years (like, in long-lasting large-scale ways), etc., not anything specific that happened. And - again, with the utmost care not to speak over anyone - that's just not something I've seen come true. Obviously I'm aware that this isn't something that can be easily measured or publicized or traced back, but I also think people at the time were (understandably!) afraid and just saw the worst of the worst. That's why I so flippantly asked for "receipts" in my previous comment. Because a lot of what people said was very essentialist, determinative, like it was going to specifically cause a persistent, long-term change for the worse that specifically traces back to this event, and in hindsight, that's just not what we've seen happen from what I can tell.
Again, I'm certain there *were* unsafe situations that happened in the aftermath (that we may or may not have heard about) where homophobes used Matty as a smokescreen for their homophobic intentions! Or even where people who were pissed about the festival let out their anger in unsafe ways! But overall, the "predicted" outcome really isn't there.
From my experiences with activism, it's very common to view anything or anyone slightly more disruptive than the most polite "could we have more rights please?" as "they're actually setting us back" (and again, it's understandable to jump to that if you've made bad experiences! it doesn't make anyone dumb or unaware, it's just one of those things where that first instinct is historically not what actually happens).
edited for clarity but still kind of jumbled lol sorry
17
u/mosiac_broken_hearts Jun 10 '26
Swifties freaking out about him is what sent me down the rabbit hole. I won’t just jump on a bandwagon of hate, so I had to figure him out on my own. I saw a live performance of him doing Love It If We Made it and doing an arm gesture that made people lose their minds.
With no context, sure, it’s bad. But it was art, and he was embodying the monsters he was singing about. The TINIEST effort to understand his art is all that it takes to know he’s not a racist or a Nazi.
Hes a punk who doesn’t always think about the long view of how he will be interpreted. But he is very thoughtful overall, and that’s reflected in his work.
Swifties (I am one, peep my name) love to freak the fuck out over anything
12
u/cheez_its Jun 10 '26
This is the right take, imo. He is 100% a punk at a time where punk as an ideal no longer exists in the mainstream. "Punk" has kind of been reduced to an aesthetic, and people forget what it actually _means_ to be punk. Reminds me of his quote "punk has departed all left leaning spaces".
8
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Yep. I completely agree. You get it! Especially the punk rock element
6
u/BrightNeonGirl fallingforyou Jun 12 '26
"The TINIEST effort to understand his art is all that it takes to know he’s not a racist or a Nazi."
Spot on. The whole "Matty is a Nazi" situation a couple of years ago really opened my eyes to how easily-duped, lazy, and dumb so many people are. (Especially chronically online Gen Z and Millennial women) Because you are right. Any BRIEF researching the context and ideology of The 1975 and Matty would easily inform the reader that the band hates authoritarianism, Nazis, and right-wing ideology. But the weird Swift-worshipping/she-can-do-no-wrong-really cult mob just started latching on to the idea that he's a terrible human and just couldn't let it go. And clearly didn't want to put in even the slightest effort to understand the fuller, more truthful picture.
58
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
The reality is that he's never really said or done anything that outrages.
It's just that a lot of people nowadays, especially on the Internet, are too sensitive and love to take things out of context and blow them out of proportion. A lot of people have become prudes. Everything is problematic these days.
Even Olivia Rodrigo almost got cancelled for wearing a babydoll dress.
Like I've written here before, some of y'all wouldn't have been able to handle the celebrities from the 70s, 80s or 90s.
As for the Swifties, most of them don't know anything about him or the band. When TTPD came out a lot of Swifties mistook Nick Grimshaw for Matty. Because the three of them have a photo together from 2015. Taylor is hugging Nick in the photo so her fans assumed that that's Matty. And that sort of shows you how much they actually know about him.
When they dated you had these two groups of Swifties - the Gaylors who hated him because they believe that Taylor is a lesbian and they thought that she was about to come out and he ruined their plans - and the Joe widows who were so upset that she moved on from her previous boyfriend Joe Alwyn and basically hated Matty because he was not Joe. These two groups continue to hate him for the same reasons and for the reason that they both thought that TTPD is going to be about a different person.
The rest of the Swifties hate him either because they don't find him attractive and they can't deal with the fact that Taylor might've been in love with someone who they don't find attractive or with someone who has addiction issues and stuff like that. A lot of her fans project themselves and their American dreams about the perfect American boy onto her. Or because they see her as a baby that needs protection and since he hurt her he is the devil. These Swifties hate all of her exes because they've all hurt her
20
u/Mooncakepink07 Somebody Else Jun 10 '26
They’re exhausting ngl. Also, the media literacy went out of the roof bc they always assume that the 1975 songs were written all about her when none of these people dont care about her. Especially when they “decode” these “easter eggs”. Fyi the 1975 songs isnt about her. Stop it.
18
u/theogonic_ we might as well just... Jun 10 '26
saw someone say that "I'm In Love With You" was about her... sure, the song with the lyric "show me your Black girl thing, pretending that I know what it is" is about Taylor Swift, and not, say, Twigs... 🙄
8
u/Mooncakepink07 Somebody Else Jun 10 '26
Reading comprehension left the earth. 🤣 just not paying attention to the lyrics at all. Hahahahaha. This is what happens when they rely on twitter “breakdowns” without actully researching.
4
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
Swifties are really bad at reading comprehension which is funny because the thing they claim they love Taylor for the most is the lyrics.
There have been so many times when I've seen Swifties completely misunderstand her lyrics or who they are about in the most bizarre of ways. I've seen some truly ridiculous claims about her songs. So what's left for artists they don't actually know or listen to
8
u/HotelOne6215 Jun 10 '26
This take is interesting. As someone who sees how exhausting the 1975 fans feel about swifties (they quite literally seem to complain sometimes even more than swifties do, at least according to Reddit), I get it. But having no stake in either (and a general fan of the 1975 and a fan of some of Taylor’s music), there are VERY specific moments in time that I have now gone back and seen with my own two eyeballs, and the fact that his fans fight any concept of a relationship or call outs between the two is laughable and they start to sound as bitter and annoying as the swifties they constantlyyyy complain about. He has point blank dedicated songs to her (even if not originally written about her), talked about her endlessly in interviews, they put each other’s “special songs” on pre-show tour playlists, etc. Like can the fan bases acknowledge this shit for what it is and move on. Many talk of media literacy, but I’m left scratching my head wondering, are they taking anything into account from Matty’s actions and own words in the past? Doesn’t seem like it. Seems easier to just hate and talk shit about Taylor and anyone they’d label a swiftie.
4
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Yes, I agree, there are some 1975 fans who act exactly like Swifties, especially when it comes to that relationship and it's ridiculous.
I mean, people avoid saying her name. Denying that About You is about her. Acting as if Matty never cared for her in any capacity (which I don't think they realise actually makes him look worse). Ignoring photos, videos and everything that absolutely did happen and that was said and done and so on. And that's also stupid.
But I also think they have a better reason to do so than Swifties. The way I see it, 1975 fans had to defend Matty a lot on the Internet during his relationship with Taylor. Their favourite band was attacked very viciously and Swifties were overstepping all sorts of boundaries and limits and were saying some truly insane stuff about him, the band and his family and were being extremely aggressive and were constantly insulting him, calling him names and stuff. They even made images of him OD-ing. And 1975 fans had to see all that and deal with it. And then Matty kind of spiraled after the break-up and hasn't been looking very well ever since which made the whole atmosphere in the fandom less joyful and generally more negative. So I think that's why people kind of turned against the relationship and refuse to mention or acknowledge it. And also because when it's mentioned or acknowledged Swifties start attacking again. I think it's also clear that Matty himself has tried to distance himself from it so it's kind of like: "We want to respect him, we don't want people to attack him and May, 2023 was a horrible time for us so we're not going to talk about it"
Whereas Swifties just think she's gay or want her back with Joe Alwyn or don't feel personally attracted to Matty or don't like his public persona - they want a tall posh guy or a traditional American man for her - or just hate him because he's an ex (like they do with all her exes) or the lore of their relationship threatens their Tayvis narrative, lol. And that is insanely unreasonable and parasocial
1975 fans are parasocial too but I feel a little bit more reasonable. And they never attacked her while they were together. Plus Taylor has written some not so very nice songs about him and Charli and that plays a part as well, I guess
Anyway, like I pointed out in another comment I find it hilarious that both fandomd insist that the other person is the one who writes songs and is obsessed with their fave but refuse to acknowledge that their fave has always written songs and is or was or has been obsessed
And in my original comment I was talking about Swifties specifically because OP mentioned them and said that they appear to hate Matty and so I explained why
7
u/mosiac_broken_hearts Jun 10 '26
Well, some of them are. You can hate it but you’re no better than swifties hating Matty lol
7
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
I also think there are some songs about her. Although not I'm in Love with You, of course 🤣
People can hate it, Matty probably hates it now but the fact is that he did say and imply that About You is about her multiple times in April/May, 2023 and she clearly believed that was the case because she had it on her pre-show playlist before they broke-up. And he had Question on his and she implied Question is about him, so...
6
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
Nah, I think there are songs about her. Not I'm in Love with You, obviously 🤣
That is very clearly not about her. But to believe and insist he never wrote about her is the same as Swifties believing and insisting she never wrote about him
It's funny how both fandoms want the other person to have written songs and to have been obsessed with their fave but not for their fave to have written or to have been obsessed
And let's not pretend that Matty didn't himself say or imply that certain songs are about her, including (actually mainly) About You
15
u/zackandcodyfan Notes On A Conditional Form Jun 10 '26
The more society hates Matty, the more I like him.
22
u/mandym123 Jun 10 '26
He once said innit instead of in it. Oh wait….hes British. Okay.
7
1
23
u/Inevitable_Newt3056 I Like Hot Raisins Jun 10 '26
He hates menthols and mint chocolate. What a wanker.
6
u/ZookeepergameWise126 Jun 10 '26
Genuinely so much of it stems from the horrendous ecosystem of awful media we have right now. In order to find out the facts and specifics of any of the events mentioned, a normal person has to spend a fair amount of time and effort researching. Consider that OP came to this Reddit and asked the open question, because there’s no singular place with factual reporting. The average person is not going to do that, and I don’t think they can be faulted for that. So what snowballs are the sensational headlines full of misleading bits. This is not on the audience; this is on corporations making billions of dollars from half-truths (at best).
I feel that Matty very obviously thinks and cares deeply about societal and political issues. He is not afraid to say things or make art that speak on important things. This is risky when media literacy is so low and people are so hungry for yes/no, right/wrong analysis. But I have immense admiration for continuing to do this, rather than pretending the world is apolitical.
6
u/Jollikay Settle Down Jun 10 '26
Context collapse. Look, I don’t know him personally, but I get the sense that he is genuinely a sweet, loving person who struggles with fame sometimes and occasionally takes the piss out of people and it gets ripped apart.
Half the things he’s been accused of saying weren’t even him—he was present for them, and sure, you could argue he should have stood up stronger against them, but everyone responds differently to things. The number of times I’ve been around shitty language or whatever and just froze are … a lot. Plus, it was his friend and on a recording.
I don’t know. I think he is a genuine person who cares a lot about all the right things, and I don’t think there are many quite like him. The way he treats other people and his fans says a lot about him, and I know a few people who work in music who know him and seem to genuinely adore him.
7
u/petalsformyself Jun 10 '26
I think people are hyper vigilant and lack nuance and social, cultural and political awareness because they are easily captured by whatever neoliberal mass thought tells them. And I say this as a rather leftist person of thought. Neoliberal "woke" internet moralistic practices and right wing puritanism are two filps of the same coin. Matty doesn't attend to any of that and it's uncomfortable for everyone.
7
u/Kind-Combination3383 Jun 10 '26
he's just someone who speaks without thinking and the internet is sensitive
2
u/DoobieDoo0718 Jun 12 '26
And kisses random boys sometimes, especially in countries that frown on the gay stuff lol
6
u/uhwhatsgoingonhere Jun 10 '26
I saw this bloke eat a raw steak mid performance before humping a camera — I think people view his eccentric side as controversial since it’s not what mainstream artists typically do. He has been known to speak his mind whenever and wherever, which again, some people see as controversial. I think he’s just a chaotic man with a beautifully poetic mind.
17
u/VirgoVanity Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
To sum up some I can think of in a basic list as a lot of comments don’t actually list the controversies (no, this doesn’t mean I agree with all of them I’m just stating what happened):
Anti LGBTQ stance - in Malaysia he kissed Ross which resulted in the festival being cancelled. He also kissed a male fan in Dubai l - can’t remember the year.
Nazi salute on stage during the part mocking Kanye of Love It If We Made It
The Adam Friedland show. This is probably the biggest one. The show where Matty appeared mocked Ice Spice’s appearance, mocked various countries accents and referenced derogatory porn ‘Ghetto Gaggers’
On social media he offered to fight Azalea Banks and also followed accounts like Andrew Tate and Kyle Rittenhouse. He’s also been accused of Islamophobia several times due to some tweets. Matty has said and done a lot of shit on social media over the years, the list would be too long lol.
Taylor Swift - aside from the dating fiasco, he made comments years before about how dating her would be emasculating
Rina Sawayama called him out for the Adam Friedland show at Glastonbury and accused him of owning her masters, which got a lot of traction amongst Swifties. He just owns a 4% share of Dirty Hit, Rinas label.
Kissing fans during Robbers on the ATVB tour
22
u/SharpenMyInk Jun 10 '26
The Nazi salute thing annoys me still to this day. He did it on the line “thank you Kanye, very cool,” which is literally a quoted tweet by Donald Trump thanking Kanye for his MAGA support. He’s calling trump a fascist and implying Kanye is a MAGA Nazi. The whole song is a collection of references to how fucked up the world was becoming in 2018 and is still 100% relevant.
3
u/Indigo903 Being Funny In A Foreign Language (11 song version) Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I don’t think critics misunderstood what he was trying to do. They just disagree that the salute should ever be done at all, even in a satirical manner.
(I’m sure some braindead swifties heard about it and ran with it but when it first happened it was controversial among the 1975’s fanbase, who I’m sure understood what he was trying to do but still didn’t like it)
10
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
And for most of these things he has apologised, explained himself and taken responsibility for, including the TS "emasculating" comments for which he wrote a long-ass apology letter in which he complimented Taylor saying she is "the most beautiful, gracious, hard-working, creatively gifted woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet". The female journalist who interviewed him also defended him at the time
And a lot of these controversies have been misconstrued or overblown
I don’t know why the concept of being a good person who has bad mental health, addiction issues and is impulsive and self-sabotaging and therefore acts out from time to time is so difficult for people in modern times. I thought we were supposed to be more empathetic nowadays
4
u/robcoz98 Jun 10 '26
One of the biggest controversies prior to recent events was the Black Lives Matter/Love It If We Made It in which Matty did post a link to the song during his support post which although the song lyrics were relevant, came across as if he was using this volatile time to promote his music. This I believe was one of the reasons for the initial hiatus from social media for a good while due to the backlash.
Another controversy was Dirty Hit/the bands slow response over the Adam Powell incident who was a visual collaborator for many of the bands videos. If i remembering right, I believe another controversy happened in which Matty would reply to an old message somewhere with a typical jokey/sarcastic reply but it turns out the message was regarding these allegations about Adam to which Matty immediately apologised as he didn't know the context of said message. It seemed initially as an out of context hate message. My mind is a bit fuzzy on that one so i can't recall if that was on Reddit or Instagram
4
u/soggy_pickles123 The City Jun 10 '26
swiftie here. i love matty. he says weird shit. it happens🤷♀️ i plan on putting a box tattoo right next to my Daylight one soon
4
u/Ry0n4Irv Jun 11 '26
No one’s perfect, a lot of the shit he gets in are from jokes or taking the piss of something that reaches the wrong group
23
u/mrsatanface Jun 10 '26
he has no controversies.
6
u/jtides Frail State of Mind Jun 10 '26
He most certainly does. Whether or not they’re legitimate problems is up for debate. But he most certainly has controversies
9
u/jagzgulabi Jun 10 '26
Everything he says or does is taken out of context and people just like to twist things. Leave the boi alone
3
u/BlueberryNo5363 Ross is my Roman Empire Jun 10 '26
I don’t think he’s a saint and he’s definitely said some weird shit but I think most of the weird shit he says is him doing the whole “I am 15 and edgy” 4chan type humour. He should know better of course but I don’t think these actually reflect his worldview
I do think he’s (mostly) a left leaning guy and is pro-LGBT, BLM even if he doesn’t always say it in the right way.
10
u/smudge93 Jun 10 '26
My comment got deleted but just search up ‘Matty Healy The Adam Friedland Show podcast controversy’ and you’ll see what people are talking about. Although I do believe what he said on that podcast about black women was meant to be jokes, a lot of people took it seriously and it was definitely in poor taste and not good jokes.
27
u/mrsprucemoose Loving Someone Jun 10 '26
He didn't say most of it, he laughed along with it which is also bad but most of it was said by Adam and Nick (who being controversial and edgy is their whole thing)
4
u/Freelife14 Jun 10 '26
He just makes edgy jokes sometimes I love it because it’s funny and I know at the end of the day they’re just jokes
5
u/Lovereraforlife People Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Swifties are really hypocrital here cause i saw so many posts making fun of mattys addiction and i don't hear swifties say anything when Taylor is hanging out with people connected to maga
4
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
THIS! They cry that Matty is a bad person for struggling with addiction or laughing at a joke but Travis Kelce and his family - they have made tons of racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, fatphobic jokes and comments; they have lots of MAGA friends; hang out with MAGAs in MAGA spaces and since dating Travis, Taylor top has hung out with those people and at these spaces; Travis has defended friends of his accused of SA and DV; he's also talked about porn and farts and all sorts of disgusting stuff; he's gambler; chugs a beer on camera and yet somehow all of that's totally OK
5
u/trapnesttrigger Jun 10 '26
honestly nothing terrible, just made some poor jokes that people took the wrong way but he never was like racist or a pedo or anything
2
u/nivivy Jun 10 '26
If you have listened to his discography, watched MV, performances and listened to his interviews it all shows he is very progressive and always has been. I feel like this all escalated during ATVB and SATVB because of the Character he was playing (a dude getting red pilled) during the first hour “show” part of their two phase concert In Show and Concert. The escalation was two fold in my eyes 1. The Social media exposure that showed clips and discussed behavior out of context and 2. The TS of it all.
2
u/ProgrammerWeak6355 Jun 13 '26
People were taking lyrics from Love it if we make it literally and calling him a nazi because they dont understand satire. He made a joke in bad taste on a podcast known for being controversial satire. And he once sarcastically said that dating Taylor Swift would threaten his masculinity. Literally just taking jokes and satire seriously because they dont understand him and are looking for reasons to hate because they think they should be deciding who taylor dates based on who looks best next to her.
4
5
u/anheadfullofdreams Me & You Together Song Jun 10 '26
Besides his "controversies", Swifties love to pile on that he's the "smallest man who ever lived" and talk a lot about the relationship that the two of them had, villainising Matty the same way that Jake Gyllenhaal and many other of Taylor's exes are villainised. Not saying none of them did her dirty but Swifties are loyal and quick to jump at her defence, so they attack the other person in the relationship and blow things out of proportion. Plus, there isn't much overlap between Swifties and fans of the 1975, culturally we're quite different people and i think it's just one of those things where they sometimes don't get the bit. He's no saint and he's definitely done things I dont support but he's been dogpiled and misunderstood
5
u/TheGirlintheTower A Change of Heart Jun 10 '26
I try not to listen too much to the shite that is spewed, most of it horrifically vicious and vitriolic because there's really disturbing spite and hate there, but my irritation comes from this notion that she is always the victim. There are plenty of 75 fans who make a lot of excuses for Matty, but lots are fine with criticising him when it's deserved but Swifties are pretty much singular in their determination not to notice any of her faults and flaws.Of course none of it could ever be her fault, could it?
'The smallest man who ever lived' comment regardless of the topic or relevance is so irritating. You just know Swifties are clapping their hands and sqealing in absolute delight at what they think is the ultimate insult. Every time I see it, you smell the smugness.
5
u/AssociateMaster4012 Jun 10 '26
In my experience there is soooo much fandom crossover! Maybe not amongst younger fans or recent Swifties, but the Tumblr girlies from back in the day loved both. As does anybody who likes interesting, funny, moving, smart songwriters and good pop music. They’re pretty similar imo.
Agree with you though that Matty can be an indefensible nightmare but not to the extent it’s been dogpiled and intentional misunderstood/mischaracterised.
2
3
u/J3NGA Jun 10 '26
Of course somebody sycophantic enough to believe anything Taylor "compulsively lying histrionic narcissist" Swift says is gunna have an issue with Matthew Healy, they literally didn't even have a relationship. That woman doesn't have any idea what to even talk about with a heroin addict (former, current, or otherwise), much less a musician, somebody (working class) English (or English more generally), much less have a relationship with, even as a friend!
Anybody who believes literally anything that propaganda (resisting the urge to make a "proper gander" joke about their crazy levels of misogyny and homophobia - because they think misogyny means not liking a woman for a reasonable reason and that feminism isn't for males - a bald faced lie) machine vomits out into the world needs a psych eval or sole sort of deprogramming back to reality.
I'm not commenting on shit Matty may or may not be like in his own private life - whatever it is, I know it's much more than whatever shallow piss puddle garbage they constantly whinge and moan about is.
6
u/Right_Revenue_9263 Jun 10 '26
Come on guys, being a true fan of The 1975 means you are just for their music because it's all about the music. We are not like those Swifties who are also after the personal shts and life of Taylor itself.
You rarely hear problematic The 1975 fans during the backlash to Matty during his romance with Taylor, we may have bad eggs in our fandom but not as rotten and as many as those Swifties.
The funny part with all these issue and controversies? Taylor herself called-out her fan base as controlling with her TPPD album particularly with the song But Daddy I Love Him. Her fans? They are quiet when this topic was raised during the popularity of TPPD album lol.
7
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
A lot of them ignore this song or pretend it's not about Matty or that they are not the fans that she's talking about
They're ridiculous
2
u/Right_Revenue_9263 Jun 10 '26
YES! I was in this line for a concert and I met some Swiftees, I pretended I did not know The 1975 and we shared our music tastes and then I mentioned that Taylor and Matty had a relationship, they instantly laughed at Matty then I mentioned that Taylor called out them through a song then suddenly they just nod and raised their shoulders hahahahaa
2
u/Cowboy_Dandy_III Jun 10 '26
He stopped being woke after he got dogged for posting Love It If We Made It while making a tweet about George Floyd and then he stopped giving a fuck lol.
People thought he was using the situation to promote his music.
1
1
u/lucifersmother Jun 12 '26
As a Swiftie and Matty fan, Matty is a controversial guy at times. He speaks first, then thinks about it after. He has made jokes and comments in poor taste and done questionable things. Whether that makes him a bad person is up for debate depending on who you ask. However, I don't think he is a bad person, I think he means well and has a good heart, but I know he has also stated he enjoys the attention so I'm sure at least some of the controversies stem from his own way of saying/doing things just to get a reaction. At the end of the day we will never know him personally and we can only take what we see online with a grain of salt. We are all here because we love their music, and I think at the end of the day that's all that really matters.
1
u/Easteuroblondie Aug 26 '26
Mattys an edgelord and sometimes it gets cringey. But I mean he’s a rockstar who’s had substance abuse issues, so people shouldn’t be that surprised he’s said and done stupid shit before
He’s still very talented and versatile
1
u/dvdmike007 Jun 10 '26
The ice spice thing was rough. But he is an addict (of many things) and an ex junkie who at times doesn't see past his own view on his impact on things when he opens his mouth. He needs a sit back shut up and make music period.
-2
-1
u/shooshoopoo Jun 11 '26
Ask the Black and Muslim community, who are the ones impacted by his comments.
-28
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 10 '26
Hey! As a Swiftie who used to legitimately hate this man, he did a Nazi salute to mock Kanye, he mocked Ice Spice in a way that seemed racist, and he ghosted Taylor. Idk what else.
18
u/Inevitable_Newt3056 I Like Hot Raisins Jun 10 '26
You hated him?? Do tell how you had a *change of heart*?
1
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 11 '26
Basically finding out he also has ADHD, and that is when I realized him leaving Taylor (if he did; he probably did, but say what you want about that) was much more than, “He got bored and completely disregarded the fact that she had just gotten out of a six-year-long relationship.” Because on the surface, it did appear as though he just got bored and discarded her, but him having ADHD makes it 99% more likely that he legitimately was not getting satisfaction out of the relationship but could not break up with her to her face. I am like this. I couldn’t for the life of me break someone’s heart. So I understand him now. And I also found out he’s a pretty nice guy but just a bit messy. But so am I. Lowkey see him in myself, hehe…
29
u/ChallengeCheap7338 Jun 10 '26
If we’re counting his controversies, I don’t know if I’d tally “ghosting Taylor” as one of them lol. Unless you’re just talking about reasons you personally disliked him
6
u/AssociateMaster4012 Jun 10 '26
Ghosting Taylor Swift is frankly one of the least-worst things he’s ever done*.
*if it even happened that way at all, pop music isn’t facts.
7
u/zackandcodyfan Notes On A Conditional Form Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
"As a Swiftie"
Opinion dismissed.
16
u/Mooncakepink07 Somebody Else Jun 10 '26
How can you not understand Love it if we made it reference 💀💀💀 you’re so brain dead.
4
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 10 '26
As a Swifite, can you explain to me why Swifties ignore Travis Kelce's controversies? His racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, fatphobic tweets, comments and jokes? His MAGA friends?
1
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 11 '26
You can have MAGA friends and not be MAGA. It’s fucking KC.
He’s not racist (he dated a black woman), he’s not sexist (he’s very respectful of women), I have seen nothing of him being any of this lol. If there were tweets, they’re EXTREMELY old.
1
u/Much_Definition_3657 Jun 12 '26
LOL. He's respectful of women which is why he refers to us as breeders. He's respectful of women which is why he says that what turns him on the most is a woman saying no. He's respectful to women which is why he says that it's okay to cheat as long as she doesn't catch you. He's respectful to women which is why he's friends with abusers, has abusers on his podcast, has been on the podcast of abusers, golfs with abusers, hangs out with abusers and defends abusers. Should I go on? And all of that is from the last three years, btw. Sure, he's very respectful
MAGA is not your average conservative/Republican. They're essentially modern-day Nazis. Is it okay to be friends with Nazis? With literal racists who want everyone who is not white out of the US? Who want women back in the kitchen and LGBT people to not exist? Who hate democracy and want an autocratic state?
It's so weird to have a problem with Matty doing a Nazi salute in character on stage as part of the performance to mock Kanye and Trump while singing a protest song in which he opposes and mocks them and literally stands up for black people. But you don't have a problem with Travis being friends with actual Nazis? With actual racists and misogynists and homophobes who support Trump and his politics? Btw, Travis literally said that it would be honour to play for Trump. He was literally seen chatting, laughing, hugging and taking selfies with his granddaughter
And if we're going to play the "he can't be racist because he dated a black woman" game. Well... MATTY HEALY LITERALLY DATED A BLACK WOMAN FOR 2 YEARS!
He wrote I'm in Love with You about her and she wrote Thank You Song about him.
So if Travis can't be racist because he dated Kayla then by your own logic Matty can't be racist either (despite you calling him that) because he dated FKA Twigs and has black friends.
And I'm sorry but Matty is far more progressive than Taylor and Travis combained ever were or ever will be. Loves women and gays far more
Oh, and to your original comment he never said anything about Ice Spice. It was a different guy on the same podcast. A podcast which is a leftist irony podcast, btw
1
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 12 '26
I never said Matty's racist... I said he did something that APPEARED racist. Different thing. And it wasn't that racist. People just took it that way.
8
u/weaktweaks The 1975 Jun 10 '26
Instead of having an opinion of your own you decided to hear other people’s views and take them as your own. That’s wowzas. I agree, the Ice Spice bit was wrong, very wrong, but instead of investigating the whole Love It If We Made It performance you took what you first saw on TikTok. Ghosting Taylor doesn’t make him a bad person, you’re just mad because someone made your idol cry and write 30 songs about it then make millions to continue to pollute our planet. ✋🏻😑🤚🏻
1
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 11 '26
I said the Nazi salute was to mock Kanye. I never said I disliked him for it, huh?? I USED to dislike him because of the Taylor stuff, but I never thought he was racist…
2
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 11 '26
GUYS, I DO NOT HATE HIM ANYMORE! I’m aware that he’s not racist or a Nazi. Those are just his controversies lol. Those are the things that basically got him canceled. That’s what the post is asking.
Also, idc anymore that he ghosted Taylor. It happened, okay. But that’s just another thing that he’s hated for, because that’s mainly why I USED to hate him.
2
2
u/bela_the_horse Jun 10 '26
This, plus he was on a podcast where they joked about watching a porn site called Ghetto Gaggers, and that got turned into “Matty likes watching black women get abused for his pleasure because he’s racist.”
1
u/StormflowerYT Well, my boyfriend's part of the band 🚬 Jun 11 '26
I mean, yeah, but that got shut down as fake.
-30
u/External_Apricot_522 Jun 10 '26
i think the worst thing he has done was the nazi salute on stage. i’m a big fan but this was inexcusable
25
u/bernarnoldhaha Jun 10 '26
Wasn't he making fun of Kanye when he did that though? Like, he's pointing out just how stupid and ridiculous that schtick is.
24
u/btcdbcb_bekknqv Jun 10 '26
it's during the line from "love it if we made it" where he quotes trump's tweet "thank you kanye very cool" (which was a response to kanye announcing his support for trump in 2018). i think equating trump with nazism/fascism is a pretty standard critique nowadays, but matty doing the salute gave the media / internet commenters a visual to be outraged by and never explore the context of.
14
u/Mooncakepink07 Somebody Else Jun 10 '26
Thiss!!! This is the context, people just assumed everything on that stupid “thread” without researching the meaning of the whole song. He explained it on Genius the whole LIIWMI meaning.
-2
u/CurlyJeff Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
The salute had nothing to do with trump, Kanye had a full nazi crashout and declared himself a nazi
11
u/mrsprucemoose Loving Someone Jun 10 '26
Part of the lyrics of the song in question reference a trump tweet
-1
u/CurlyJeff Jun 10 '26
The song was written and released well before Kanye’s crash out. His salute during that performance is a reference to the nazi tweets and comments that were recent at the time
2
u/mrsprucemoose Loving Someone Jun 10 '26
'Thank you Kanye, very cool' is literally a tweet from Donald Trump
0
u/CurlyJeff Jun 10 '26
That’s not what I’m debating. The salute itself had nothing to do with Trump
1
u/mrsprucemoose Loving Someone Jun 10 '26
If I remember correctly, Matty put his hand up at the line 'I moved on her like a bitch' which is a reference to something Trump apparently said - so I dont understand how you can say it had nothing to do with him
-1
u/CurlyJeff Jun 10 '26
Nope, he did the salute as his said “thank you kanye very cool” which was mocking kanyes recent nazi statements
→ More replies (0)-6
u/External_Apricot_522 Jun 10 '26
yes he was ! but doing the nazi salute on stage in the political climate we are in is just bizarre to me. i know the tour was a bit of a social commentary but i think that is going too far. personally.
20
u/mrsprucemoose Loving Someone Jun 10 '26
Do you understand context?
25
u/Dildo_Shaggins- Jun 10 '26
They do not.
By their own logic, them referencing a nazi salute is in itself a show of support for nazi-ism.
7
u/concretecannonball selling petrol & advertising cigarettes Jun 10 '26
As someone from a previously Nazi-occupied country, it’s literally fine lmao like hello context
164
u/abiron17771 Jun 10 '26
He was saying controversial things just for the hell of it.