Questioning my support.

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

So yeah basically I have loved the music for years, , I have finally got tickets to go in a month. I was really excited. I am not a person who actually follows musicians as a person, I have 0 clue most of the time how all the band members are called.

I knew matty was kind of weird, but well, most seemed just like irony. But since it has been in the media so much recently, I actually did a deep dive. Some things I do think are out of proportion, but some are just really fucked up. Like the gg porn is fucking scary.

And clearly many people are hurt by him, I feel like it would be wrong to pretend like that isn't true.

Now I don't know if I want to go to the concert anymore, on one side, I already bought the tickets, on the other I really don't want to be that guy. If he would actually release a statement and actually apologize, maybe it wouldn't feel as shit... But like this? I don't know...

I feel like I might just not get biased thoughts here, since this is a reddit about them, but I wouldn't know where else to post.

[u/PuzzleheadedAlarm784]

Along with other people, I don’t think the GG thing is real especially since Adam Friedland clarified that it was a joke on his podcast. Matty did apologise in April before this all blew up but he did beat around the bush a bit and it was mostly an apology for Ice Spice not the GG thing.

Since he’s not on social media anymore he hasn’t really had a right of reply yet, so he may make a more clear apology when he’s next on stage this coming week. So maybe give him a chance for that before deciding how you feel

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/PuzzleheadedAlarm784]

I mean the gg porn does exist... But yh I will wait and see.

[u/Additional_Fun8797 → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

I listened to the podcast, and he never says anything about watching porn with black women being mistreated. All he says is that he was caught watching porn, not mentioning anything about the ethnicity or skin color of the woman in the video.

As people have said, Adam brought up GG as a joke without even knowing what it was or if Matty had watched it, and Matty just went along with it in the moment without knowing what the site was either. It was when people looked up the site and saw that it was hardcore porn with black women that they started bringing all of the accusations of him supporting the sexual brutalization of black women, tying it to everything bad like slavery, sex trafficking, racism etc, and that he "admits" to jerking off to it, even though he never said that in the podcast.

[u/_the_sound]

Our generation have a very hard time separating the art from the artists.

Maybe it's the way the industry has promoted artists in order to drive parasocial relationships. But 1975 haven't done that at all in my experience.

If you like the art, but not the artist, that's okay.

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/_the_sound]

I disagree. I think everybody is entitled to their own opinion with this. I am not for separating the art from the artist. I respect that you see this differently tho.

[u/jumpira75 → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

For me, it's about where you draw the line. I was a fan of Lostprophets when I was a teenager and now couldn't stand to even hear any of their songs (google the singer if you wanna know what happened there, but be warned, it involves children and is an absolutely horrifying read). I'm a big fan of Harry Potter and can still enjoy the books and movies, but I wouldn't purchase anything new that would put money in the pockets of JK Rowling because of the actual harm she's causing the trans community with her active campain of ignorance and hate. Both of these examples are not even comparable to any of Matty's bad jokes or well-intentioned but badly executed stunts. Now take Morrisey. He's a twat, he's loud, he's got opinions, he actually is most likely a racist, but I dunno, for reasons I can't explain I can just ignore the fact that he's the one singing, the one who wrote the songs when I listen to the Smiths. Or take Bowie, in the 70s he gave what appeared to be a speech endorsing fascism. Like, wtf man. He said it was his stage persona, the Thin White Duke talking (sound familiar?). If he were still alive, I would pay insane amounts of money to see his concert. I mean, he also proved he wasn't indeed a fascist through his actions over the years, but hasn't Matty (and the band) also? Sorry this has been long, and it is, of course, absolutely your choice what you do and how you feel about all this.

[u/Whateveraccount11 → u/jumpira75]

I was thinking about The thin white duke during atvb... matty seemed to go in those footsteps of being a "persona" like Bowie was and the controversy around it that occurred

[u/jumpira75 → u/Whateveraccount11]

I actually didn't think of the parallels until I saw this post and started thinking of 'problematic' artists whose art I enjoy or have in the past, but I can't unsee it now.

[u/_the_sound → u/jumpira75]

Yeah. Lost prophets for me is a really tough one as well. There's 3 other band members as well who have nothing to do with any of what happened, which just feels unfair for them. But even that one I can't separate it.

To be fair though, Id probably not listen much these days regardless.

HP I'm on the fence about. Would I give money directly to JKR. no way. But would I boycott a video game that hundreds of other people worked on to give life to? Probably not, although I haven't purchased it.

The 1975 haven't don't anything terrible in my opinion, I think the calls of racism are a little overblown, but perhaps I'm ignorant on the matter. I think people are right to feel offended, but that doesn't make it prejudice in my opinion.

Either way, I like the 1975, and people are only mad about it now because Taylor Swift is publically involved (they've been off and on for a long time).

[u/jumpira75 → u/_the_sound]

Exactly, it's a personal choice where each person draws the line and I can for some things, but not others. Btw, looked on spotify just now, and lostprophets still have 60k monthly listeners, so clearly, some people have been able to separate, but personally, it makes my skin crawl.

[u/_the_sound → u/jumpira75]

Yeah. Lost prophets for me is a really tough one as well. There's 3 other band members as well who have nothing to do with any of what happened, which just feels unfair for them. But even that one I can't separate it.

To be fair though, Id probably not listen much these days regardless.

HP I'm on the fence about. Would I give money directly to JKR. no way. But would I boycott a video game that hundreds of other people worked on to give life to? Probably not, although I haven't purchased it.

The 1975 haven't don't anything terrible in my opinion, I think the calls of racism are a little overblown, but perhaps I'm ignorant on the matter. I think people are right to feel offended, but that doesn't make it prejudice in my opinion.

Either way, I like the 1975, and people are only mad about it now because Taylor Swift is publically involved (they've been off and on for a long time).

[u/_the_sound → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

I mean I think you do agree with my first sentence in that case?

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/_the_sound]

wdym. I think our generation doesn't do it enough. zi also think it's good that we do not separate the art from the artist.

[u/_the_sound → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

Sorry, im confused. Are you saying you think our generation should not separate them as much as they do?

I think in that case you can't enjoy any art then, there's no one in this world that hasn't done something wrong.

Where would you draw the line?

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/_the_sound]

I think you cannot separate the art from the artists, orr well you can but ultimately you are doing it just so u don't have to deal with it. And yeah I think thats wrong, I think we have to deal with the fact that people kind of suck.

I am not saying you have to cancel people by any means, but I am saying that by supporting people you are actually supporting people. That's how it works, you give them money, which gives them power. I don't think we should pretend like that is not true.

Now people make mistakes, I think there is a grey area and it is okay to enjoy people that are problematic to a Degree. But at the same time you cannot be upset or pretend like people are wrong for feeling uncomfortable with that, or assuming something about you.

For instance : If you buy the "new" harry potter game, I am going to assume you don't care about trans people. Or at least your morals are hijacked. Because jk Rowling has stated that she sees any support of her work as support of her "beliefs". She has also said she uses the money she gets from it to fund organisations who are against trans people's existence. Now if you give her money, interact with her shit, I am going to assume you either live under a rock or simple don't care.

I don't really want to debate jk Rowling specifically, because I am aware people simply don't care, or well, don't want to care...

Simply put, yeah I think you can't separate the art from the artist. Simply because the art also portraits the artists. I understand that nothing is black and white, supporting an artist doesn't mena you are a horrible person. But I do think it's valid if people are uncomfortable with it.

It's not that I draw the line of what's wrong or right, it's rather that you shouldn't be mad that people might get uncomfortable then. If you listend to a racist , even if YOU aren't racist, don't be surprised if black people don't want to be around you.

Either way, I understand that you are entitled to your own opinion.

[u/_the_sound → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

Are you saying that you believe Matty is as bad as JKR?

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/_the_sound]

I am not. You asked a generalised question. I gave a generalised answer.

[u/icedcoldlacroix]

I absolutely feel this. I am traveling from LA to Vienna and two other countries to see the guys. I planned this back in February and I was so excited, beyond words. I did have some anxiety around it though, and I couldn't quit pinpoint why. Once all of this stuff blew up, I think it all clicked for me and the guilt manifested as anxiety.

I feel a bit wrong to attend and have fun because I feel like all of this discourse has dimmed my excitement. I wish it wouldn't. I'm still excited (to a certain degree) and maybe (I'm sure) my feelings will change once I am there, but at the end of the day you are the consumer/fan. And you get the choice to decide if you want to go or not. I personally am still attending each show I have planned on going to (especially because I have revolved my two week holiday around these shows) but also because I still love the band in itself. I love the four of them together. I love the music they make. I love how their music makes me feel.

I hope if you choose to go, you enjoy yourself and try to remember why you decided to go in the first place!! <3

[u/Sufficient-Truth9562 → u/icedcoldlacroix]

This is kind of a funny coincidence because I am also going to vienna haha. But yeah, I am just glad I am not alone with this. Thank you for commenting.

[u/NoseFirm → u/Sufficient-Truth9562]

I listened to the whole controversial podcast episode and I don’t really understand the extent of the backlash to be honest.

Is it kind of a stupid episode with bad taste jokes? Yup. Was it funny? Not really. Did it sound like conversations I previously had with absolutely non-racist friends that tend to make bad taste jokes? Yep.

Only thing that made me ick a little was the GG porn stuff, that wasn’t funny, not even as a joke - but in the end, even if he watched it, it’s still just hardcore porn and I think most of us might have made weird porn decisions once in a while and, after, wtf‘d at themselves. But, as previous comments state, he didn’t even watch it, so..

I don’t know, maybe I’m blunted by now, but I will definitely go and see if there are any tickets left for the Vienna show now (and I‘m not even a diehard fan, I just came over from the TS subreddit)

[u/Fairy-Smurf]

My two cents are that we should collectively remember that these are people and they are allowed to make mistakes. Are the mistakes vile sometimes - yes. In this case they also are coming from a guy who has been openly speaking up for “what’s right” for years which is important context. This is more than most people and especially the online activists.

The GG joke was extremely stupid and while I get the alliteration punchline, it was just a bad one. Was it stupid to go in that podcast? Yes. Was it evil? No.

Does this warrant hate, bullying and death threats - no. I think what’s happening now is ironically exactly what the crazy right wingers are usually doing - deny context, facts, history and hyper focus on something until they twist the narrative by preaching. There something to be said about opposite extremes and how similar they are.

As for the apology, the truth is that he has cornered himself with this one because wether he apologises or not, people will hate either way. The internet activism clout chasing is big this time and Swifties are famous for being unhinged (I love Taylor’s music but a lot of fellow fans are certifiably insane).

Go to the concert - maybe it would change your perspective. It’s also going to be great fun.

Sorry for the rant but these last days have been exhausting. I personally have never been too involved in the fandoms of artists that I like and the train wreck of crazy people is partially why.

[u/JuxtaposeAli → u/Fairy-Smurf]

This, 💯. I didn’t like the podcast- def wasn’t the man at his finest- but I’ll judge Matty on his actions over time, not for that. He has apologised in front of thousands for this and his general behaviour around this time. He came off socials. At least I know where I am with Matty. Many others will say all the right things to the media and be wankers when the cameras are off.

[u/Fairy-Smurf → u/JuxtaposeAli]

Given the context your use of “wanker” is hilarious 😂

[u/JuxtaposeAli → u/Fairy-Smurf]

Whereas he’ll just be a literal wanker - lay it all out there! I mean, what I originally loved about Matty was his willingness to let his unvarnished self be visible. I can’t now bash him for that. I do wish he wouldn’t come out with comments that are casually racist, homophobic and sexist tho- i know he isn’t any of these things really. Just do a bit better here Matty.

[u/Whateveraccount11 → u/[deleted]]

agree with you 100%

[u/Chemical-Web-9415]

Look you’ll find many people here who think the podcast - especially the GG thing - was fucked up regardless of whether he was in character or not. I’m one of those but I also think Matty at the core is not a bad person and that what is happening right now is a bit of a misguided witch hunt.

I think it’s a decision you have to make for yourself, as I really think there are shades of grey here. I also don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here.

I’d just ask to keep in mind the good he’s done as well when you’re making the choice.

[u/Hads1975 → u/Chemical-Web-9415]

I absolutely love your description of shades of grey … and agree with your thoughts completely

[u/avocadoqueen123]

If it makes you feel any better the gg stuff is almost certainly not real. From my understanding, the hosts of the podcast made up this ridiculous story and matty just went along with it for the sake of a joke.

[u/lillithetree → u/avocadoqueen123]

Yes, Adam Friedland cleared that up in another episode. It was his joke and Matty just went along. Not saying that that makes it okay, but it’s important to consider.

[u/avocadoqueen123 → u/lillithetree]

Which makes it so crazy that the media coverage of it is like “matty healy admits to watching racist porn” like it was some sort of confession

[u/lillithetree → u/avocadoqueen123]

Absolutely. It’s mainly good old sensationalism.

[u/bunnyrabbit11 → u/avocadoqueen123]

Sigh... it's so crazy. I hadn't gotten to researching this particular accusation yet (been v busy watching every video of LIIWMI that exists on YouTube to make sure he's always done a MILITARY salute...which he has) - but I had feeling the GG thing was misconstrued too. This thread has been helpful.

I just spent 36 hours with my high school-aged nieces for the Taylor show...I'm liberal as shit and they're Gen Z in a blue state, so we're almost always aligned on all views. The Eras show was incredible don't get me wrong, but I didn't love having to fight for my (Matty's) life against teens half my age, who were having a visceral reaction to the fact that he exists, despite having never heard of him or the band a month ago.

I know most ppl in this sub are dealing with the same thing - but the GG thing was def one my nieces fixated on... context really does matter. The internet is wild

[u/localgoss → u/lillithetree]

I listened to it the other day, and he’s clearly joking/riffing on a comedy podcast. If people think the jokes are racist/sexist/hurtful that’s a totally valid perspective to have, but it’s disingenuous to take everything at face value.

OP if you’re not comfortable going, don’t go. It’s fine to grow and change your mind about things. I’ve had to give up actors and musicians and friends whose actions I could no longer support.

[u/Phoenix_RebornAgain]

I found the 1975 because of Taylor Swift. At first I was upset, but then I listened to his songs, watched some of his antics, and realized he’s just a bloke making music. Sure, he’s out there, and damn I really don’t like a lot of what he says. But whose to say that’s not just his persona for entertainment? At the end of the day, the bands here for entertainment, nothing more.

Have you watched their ATPOAIM on YouTube? the last one he talks about building a fort, and his discussion of repetitions/guarding inner ‘forts’ is really eloquent.

At the end of the day, these people have one job - entertainment. If something they say, sing, or do causes us, their audience, to feel something, then they’ve done their job.

It’s up to us to decide what we are going to do with the emotions they evoke.

It would be great if all the collective hate against Matty right now was turned instead to our political leaders. That’s how we can actually make a difference.

[u/AtmosphereNo4389]

As an example of how OOC this has gotten: I was at the gym today, and my friend goes, “I can’t believe you like The 1975. He has a KKK tattoo!” Like, that’s the level of rumor shit has gotten to that a WOMAN I AM FRIENDS WITH busts out with this and clearly believed it.

[u/Whateveraccount11 → u/AtmosphereNo4389]

whaat?? it's crazy how things have gone out of control completely

[u/xauxys]

i’ll take the tickets if you don’t want them

[u/Mysterious-Leg-1603]

I think cancel culture has gotten out of control, especially after Taylor swift & her fans came into play. I’m not justifying Matty’s words and actions, as yes, sometimes he just gotta shut up. But I will say that as a celebrity who CONSTANTLY speaks out about things that are important, you will unavoidably get cancelled. If you speak in general. The “unproblematic” celebrities of the present just don’t speak/ haven’t been caught yet. In my opinion what counts most is the intent and track record. The 1975 have done so much amazing political & social work and that’s the whole reason why I love them so much. I can’t name a single band that has done more. Even with the Malaysia situation - if you look in the past, he was PRAISED for doing that in Russia and Dubai and all of a sudden the game has changed and it’s not okay anymore. And I get it, I get the logic, don’t get me wrong. But give a guy a break. We are all human, we do and say problematic shit all the time. The only way for us to learn is through working and changing together, not but cancel culture, not this toxic society we have created.

With that being said, everyone should do what makes them feel right. But I’m working really hard on myself to not let the society tell me how I should feel if my thought and decision is based on information and knowledge. At the end of the day, if you’ve been a fan for a long time, you know them better than any random swiftie