The 1975’s Matty Healy apologises for “hurt” caused while playing the “character role of 21st-century rock star”: “I pledge to do better moving forward”
“Sometimes playing pretend is the only way you can truly find out who you are,” the singer said.
Image: Scott Legato/ Getty Images
The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has issued an apology to the people he’s “hurt” due to his attempt at playing the “character role of 21st-century rock star”.
The artist — who’s found himself in a string of controversy lately — received significant backlash earlier this year for his appearance on an episode of The Adam Friedland Show. The episode had hosts Friedland and Nick Mullen discussing the heritage of rapper Ice Queen, referring to her as Inuit and Chinese before they impersonated the accents of those countries and regions.
While Healy didn’t participate in the mocking of accents, he did laugh along with the podcast hosts. The episode has since been taken down.
Addressing his past behaviour during the band’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, Healy said that he “performed exaggerated versions” of himself on “other stages be in print or in one podcast… in an often misguided attempt to fulfil the kind of character role of the 21st-century rock star.”
“Because some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologise to those people, and I pledge to do better moving forward,” he told fans. “You see, as an artist, I want to create an environment for myself to perform where not everything that I do is taken literally.”
He added that the situation was “complicated”, saying: “Sometimes playing pretend is the only way you can truly find out who you are. And you could probably also say that men would rather do offensive impressions for attention than go to therapy.”
Matt Healy took a moment at his Hollywood Bowl show to apologize to the people he has hurt with his actions and pledges to "do better" pic.twitter.com/bCRUMcWNHC
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 3, 2023
In other news, Healy has confirmed that The 1975 aren’t going anywhere after causing a wave of panic among fans due to his comments about an “indefinite hiatus”.
Last month, the singer said on one of their tour stops that they “will be going on an indefinite hiatus with shows” after the tour, but he has now assured that this does not mean the band is coming to an end.
“I didn’t mean to scare any hardcore fans by insinuating that we were splitting up or anything like that,” he explained. “That’s not happening. Don’t worry.”
The 1975 are currently on tour in the US. To see a full list of dates, head to their official website.