Singer Jade Thirlwall criticized Matty Healy, frontman of the British rock band The 1975, for remarks he recently made saying he would like to stay out of politics.
“I don’t think you can be a pop artist and cover your eyes,” Thirlwall told The Guardian in a recent interview.
“I saw Matty Healy say that he doesn’t want to be political, which I found disappointing,” she added. “It’s very easy for someone who’s White and straight and very privileged to say that. Good for you, hun!”
Her new album, “That’s Showbiz Baby!,” is due out in September.
In June, Healy told fans at the Glastonbury Festival set that his band wouldn’t be bringing politics into their live performances.
“People who are watching this may — I don’t know — they may be disappointed in the lack of politics in this show and our forthcoming shows and probably our future shows. I want you to know that it’s a conscious decision,” Healy told the crowd. “We honestly don’t want our legacy to be one of politics. We want it to be that of love and friendship. I’m not trying to be too earnest, but you can go out into the world and there’s loads of politics everywhere. And I think we don’t need more politics. We need more love and friendship.”
However, during the performance — as reported by Variety — the band played “Love It if We Made It,” one of their most political songs, accompanied by a montage featuring images of President Donald Trump, Kanye West and scenes depicting the struggles of immigrants.
Healy, who is an ex-boyfriend of Taylor Swift, got his band into trouble in 2023 after he kissed the band’s guitarist, Ross MacDonald, on-stage in Malaysia to protest the country’s anti-LGBTQ laws.
The move led to the cancellation of the three-day festival and resulted in the band being banned from performing in Malaysia.
Entertainment site NME.com reported in 2016 that Healy cried when Trump won, quoting him as saying, “I was tired, and we felt a bit defeated.”
Representavies for Healy didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.
