Matty Healy apologizes again for racist impersonation of Ice Spice amid The 1975 indefinite hiatus

Matty Healy has decided that his non-apology earlier this year for making racist remarks toward Ice Spice and to different ethnic groups wasn’t sufficient. And now that his band The 1975 are going on indefinite hiatus after their tour wraps up, Healy has decided it’s time to clear the air and officially take accountability for the pain his words have caused.

"It is important to take inventory of yourself. So you become aware when your intentions and your actions don’t align... Some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologize to those people and I pledge to be better moving forward" he said on stage at the Hollywood Bowl last night.

He shared that it’s important for him to “express” his intentions so that “everybody knows that there is no ill will.” 

“You can probably also say that men would rather do offensive impressions for attention and then go to therapy,” he added. NO ARGUMENT HERE.

He was then handed cue cards to promote the online therapy service BetterHelp, and banners for the services appeared on the screens.

This apology comes months after he was criticized following a highly controversial appearance on "The Adam Friedland Show" where he mocked rapper Ice Spice, whom the host described as a "chubby Chinese lady" (she is neither, but rather, a svelte rapper of Nigerian and Dominican descent). 

Healy countered that Ice Spice is actually Hawaiian, before he and the hosts proceeded to attempt offensive impersonations of Hawaiian people. Also in the interview, he mocked the Japanese and didn't call out the hosts when they used an ableist slur to disparagingly describe the Scottish language (Healy himself suggested that the Scots language is "Medieval speak").

The interview sparked a major backlash. On Twitter, Yungblud called Healy out for his apparent misogynoir, writing, "Love listening to three privileged white dudes sit around and objectify a young Black female artist who's blowing up. Welcome to your 30s I guess."

Healy half-apologized for his comments, saying per Rolling Stone, "I just feel a bit bad, and I'm kind of a bit sorry if I've offended you," he said, adding, "I don't want Ice Spice to think I'm a d***. I love you, Ice Spice. I'm so sorry."

Just last week we reported that fellow British musician Rina Sawayama also has taken issue with Healy and his racist comments. During her Glastonbury performance, she clapped back at Healy, who had a senior role at Dirty Hit, her label, screaming into the mic, “a white man that watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast” owns her masters, adding, “I’ve had enough!”

As for Ice Spice, she told Variety that Healy apologized to her personally and they’re back on good terms. “When I had heard that little podcast or whatever, I was so confused,” she told the outlet. “Because I heard ‘chubby Chinese lady’ or some s**t like that, and I’m like, ‘Huh? What does that even mean?’ First of all, I’m thick. What do you mean Chinese? What? But then they apologized.”

“He apologized to me a bunch of times. We’re good,” she stated.

Back in July, we reported that Matt Healy and The 1975 have been banned from Malaysia for defying the country’s strict public decency laws and performing a same-sex kiss onstage.