On Monday, a London judge ruled that The 1975 cannot be held personally liable for the festival’s losses. That means Healy, MacDonald, George Daniel, and Adam Hann won’t be included as defendants, though the case against their 1975 Productions LLP will continue. According to Billboard, Judge William Hansen said the claims against the band members were “bad as a matter of law and that there is no good reason why the matter should go to trial.” He also ordered Future Sound Asia to pay 100,000 pounds ($126,000) in legal costs.
The band’s lawyer reportedly argued that the suit against the musicians was illegitimate because Future Sound Asia had a contract with the band’s company. However, Future Sound Asia’s lawyer argued that the band deliberately provoked Malaysian authorities with their antics, which beyond the kiss included an “obscene speech,” smuggling wine onstage, and performing a “second-rate set of songs.” “They 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,” the lawyer said (via Billboard).
For his part, Healy has claimed that the kiss was just a “routine part of the show.” Following the backlash to the Good Vibes Festival incident, he said that “the 1975 did not waltz into Malaysia unannounced. They were invited to headline a festival by a government who had full knowledge of the band with its well publicized political views and its routine stage show. Malaysian festival organizers’ familiarity with the band was the basis of our invitation.” Healy said the band was “briefly imprisoned” over the kiss. “It should be expected that if you invite dozens of Western performers into your country, they’ll bring their Western values with them,” he said on stage at a later show in Texas. “If the very same things which made you aware of them could land them in jail in your country, you’re not actually inviting them to perform. You’re indirectly commanding them to reflect your country’s policies by omission.”
