{"id":4376,"date":"2025-02-25T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/the-1975-band-members-not-liable-for-malaysian-festival-losses\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T16:43:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T16:43:02","slug":"the-1975-band-members-not-liable-for-malaysian-festival-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/the-1975-band-members-not-liable-for-malaysian-festival-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1975 Band Members Not Liable for Malaysian Festival Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tM<\/span>embers of the British band The 1975 cannot be held personally liable for losses of a Malaysian music festival that was shut down by authorities after lead singer Matty Healy kissed a male bandmate on stage, a London judge ruled Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe organizer of the Good Vibes Festival is seeking 1.9 million pounds ($2.4 million) in losses after\u00a0Healy criticized the country\u2019s anti-homosexuality laws\u00a0and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald at the Kuala Lumpur show in July 2023.<\/p>\n

\n\tFootage of the kiss sparked a backlash in the predominantly Muslim country, where\u00a0homosexuality is a crime\u00a0punishable by up to 20 years in prison and caning. Some\u00a0LGBTQ+\u00a0groups also criticized the band for endangering its community and disrupting the work of activists pushing for change.<\/p>\n

\n\tFuture Sound Asia sued The 1975 Productions LLP in the High Court over breach of contract and said its four members owed a duty of care. But the band\u2019s lawyer argued that the suit should only target the company \u2014 not the musicians.<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge William Hansen said the claims against the band members were \u201cbad as a matter of law and that there is no good reason why the matter should go to trial.\u201d He allowed the case to proceed against the company, but ordered FSA to pay 100,000 pounds ($126,000) in legal costs.<\/p>\n

\n\tBand attorney Edmund Cullen had argued the claim was an \u201cillegitimate, artificial and incoherent\u201d attempt \u201cto pin liability on individuals\u201d because FSA only had a contract with the band\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

\n\tFSA\u2019s attorney Andrew Burns said authorities had initially refused to let the band perform because of reports about Healy\u2019s drug addiction and subsequent recovery. They relented after the band promised he would follow guidelines and regulations, he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the band played the same festival in 2016, they had agreed not to swear, smoke, drink, take off clothes or talk about religion and politics on stage, Burns said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBurns said the band deliberately provoked Malaysian authorities in 2023 by smuggling a bottle of wine on stage, and through Healy\u2019s \u201cobscene speech\u201d and the kiss. He said the band also performed a \u201csecond-rate set of songs\u201d to upset the crowd.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey could be argued to have been on a frolic of their own rather than simply acting within the course of their ordinary role as LLP members,\u201d Burns said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band was supposed to be paid $350,000 (276,000 pounds) for a one-hour set, Burns said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show wasn\u2019t the first time Healy made a political statement in the name of LGBTQ+ rights: he kissed a male fan at a 2019 concert in the United Arab Emirates, which outlaws same-sex sexual activity.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the show in the Malaysian capital, The 1975\u00a0canceled its concerts in Taiwan and Jakarta, Indonesia.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Malaysian government has blacklisted the band.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis article was originally published by the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the British band The 1975 cannot be held personally liable for losses of a Malaysian music festival that was shut down by authorities after lead singer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1105,2787,675,2329,4812,1865],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-band","tag-festival","tag-liable","tag-losses","tag-malaysian","tag-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}