Matt Healy, frontman for the band The 1975, kissed a man during a show in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday as a protest against the country’s anti-gay laws, where homosexuality can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
A video of the kiss circulated on social media but people are asking it not be shared in fear for the man’s safety. Another video showed Healy saying, “If you’re gay I love you. And God f**king loves you.”
In another video, Healy said, “I just want us to identify as humans and not as groups of individual different people. I’m sorry, I know it seems indulgent for me to cry but I do this every night and it’s the same thing, I see so much passion and pain and I know what you guys are going through and I know you’re not representative of your governments.”
Rolling Stone reports: “The Coca-Cola Arena show was the band’s first-ever concert in the United Arab Emirates. During the song ‘Loving Someone,’ Healy stepped off the stage and embraced a male fan before kissing him on the lips to cheers and screams from the audience.”
Tweeted Healy after the show: “Thank you Dubai you were so amazing. I don’t think we’ll be allowed back due to my ‘behaviour’ but know that I love you and I wouldn’t have done anything differently given the chance again. But who knows maybe they will let me back in let’s just wait and see :)”
Healy’s kiss comes following a similar action taken by the German metal band Rammstein at a show in Russia.
