Matty Healy Pledges to ‘Do Better Moving Forward,’ Apologizes for Controversial Comments During the 1975 Concert

Matty Healy took some time out of the 1975 concert at the Hollywood Bowl Monday night to issue an updated apology for some of my actions have hurt some people.

Healy has been under fire numerous times throughout his musical career for controversial comments and behavior but he incited a mass hate storm when he appeared on an episode of The Adam Friedland Show earlier this year. The episode featured racist jokes, some of them having been pointed at rising star Ice Spice.

Host Friedland poked at Ice Spice by inciting a debate on her ethnicity before impersonating an Intuit and Chinese accent. Though Healy didnt participate in the mocking, he did giggle along with the podcast hosts. The episode has since been pulled offline.

Addressing the podcast, Healy told the crowd on Monday night that he had performed exaggerated versions of himself on other stages be in print or in one podcast in an often misguided attempt to fulfill the kind of character role of the 21st-century rock star.

Because some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologize to those people, and I pledge to do better moving forward, he told the audience. You see, as an artist, I want to create an environment for myself to perform where not everything that I do is taken literally.

Ice Spice recently confronted the misdeed in an interview with Variety, admitting that she was left confused by the comments. She said she had been a fan of the 1975 since she was a teenager but when I had heard that little podcast or whatever, I was so confused. Because I heard chubby Chinese lady or some shit like that, and Im like, Huh? What does that even mean? First of all, Im thick. What do you mean Chinese? What?

She also said that they apologized or whatever, though she never really cared about the controversy to begin with. He apologized to me a bunch of times. Were good, she concluded.

Healys comments at the Hollywood Bowl show closed with him stating that men would rather do offensive impressions for attention than go to therapy. He then started reading off an advert for the online therapy service BetterHelp.

Seeing that this isnt the first line of fire Healy has been in, he previously addressed the recent backlash during an outdoor show at Finsbury Park in London. I was always trying stuff. And some stuff I got right and some stuff I got wrong, he said. What I mean is that I really am only doing this because I want to make you guys laugh and feel good. Thats what my favorite art does and thats what Im trying to do. I get a bit excited.