# Malaysia bans The 1975 after an on-stage same-sex kiss and LGBT remarks

Date: 2023

## The fact

On 21–22 July 2023 the Anwar government banned The 1975 from performing in Malaysia after frontman Matty Healy kissed a bandmate on stage in Kuala Lumpur and criticised anti-LGBT laws. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil announced the ban.

## Context

LPF and the Communications Ministry implement entertainment licences. Conservative groups had already protested. He did not stand on the stage. A concert ban is still a completed speech-and-assembly instrument of his Cabinet.

Section 377 left standing is a neighbouring legal row. MADANI launch six days later is a neighbouring brand row.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia advises the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, chairs Cabinet, and is appointed under Articles 40 and 43 of the Federal Constitution. He does not write Bank Negara Malaysia policy rates, does not sit as every state menteri besar, and does not author a United States or China statute. A 1999–2018 prosecution or pardon cluster is not a 2023 subsidy. Allegation is not a completed personal conviction unless a court so held. A 2027 general election is not this page’s completed Fact. As of 27 August 2026 he remains prime minister.

## Evidence and sources

Ministry of Communications Malaysia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [protection of minority rights](/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights) and digital-adjacent speech: a completed concert ban after an LGBT gesture is a dated [civic-space](/drivers/civic-space) contraction.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 21–22 July 2023 concert ban, independently reported.

Not established: that every later film cut was this same instrument, or a unique later tourism coefficient from that weekend.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Cabinet owned entertainment-licence weather. He headed the government. The band performed the kiss.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Malaysia bans The 1975 after an on-stage same-sex kiss and LGBT remarks, not a later speech about Malaysia bans The 1975 after an on-stage same-sex kiss and LGBT remarks.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Malaysia bans The 1975 after an on-stage same-sex kiss and LGBT remarks on 2023-07-21 is not a licence to treat every later Ministry of Communications Malaysia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Malaysia bans The 1975 after an on-stage same-sex kiss and LGBT remarks into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to Fahmi announced. The Cabinet owned entertainment-licence weather. He headed the government. The band performed the kiss. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Anwar Ibrahim: https://factrail.ai/people/anwar-ibrahim

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights
- Digital-Rights and Platform-Power Regulation: https://factrail.ai/drivers/tech-digital-rights-regulation

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysia-bans-the-1975-after-frontman-kiss-bandmate-on-stage-2023-07-22/
- https://www.kkd.gov.my/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/my-anwar-concert-2023