The 1975’s Matty Healy Calls Kanye West His ‘Hero’

It’s been approximately a month since Matty Healy pissed off the internet with his bad, seemingly calculated takes. Now, the lead singer of The 1975 is in hot water for his flippant remarks about the ongoing violence in Israel and Gaza and declaring his love for Kanye West.

During The 1975’s Wednesday night show in New York City, Healy invoked the controversial rapper in a rant about their lack of Grammy nominations this year. Despite the band’s 2022 album Being Funny In A Foreign Language earning nearly universal acclaim, it apparently didn’t make much of an impression on the Recording Academy. At the group’s most recent show, Healy called the oversight a “fucking outrage.”

“The reason people don’t say that is ’cause it’s not a very tasteful thing to say, but I’m way past tasteful,” he told the crowd at Madison Square Garden. “Are you fucking mental?”

The ex-boyfriend of Taylor Swift, who picked up six Grammy nods, making her the third most nominated female artist of all time, clarified that he actually “didn’t really care that much” about the awards, which is probably where he should’ve stopped his rant. But he proceeded to praise Kanye West—who famously stormed the stage to protest Swift’s victory over Beyoncé at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards—which seemed to upset the crowd.

“I’m not being self-celebratory, but Kanye is one of my heroes,” Healy said. “You know what? You’ve got to fucking believe in yourself.”

In a TikTok video of Healy’s speech, the crowd can be heard groaning in response. Earlier this year, the singer received flack for doing the Nazi salute while singing the line “Thank you, Kanye, very cool”—a quote from a 2018 tweet by Donald Trump praising rapper Kanye West—in the 1975 song “Love It If We Made It.”

“That’s an awkward hero to have now, I understand that,” he said during Wednesday’s show. “But separate the antisemitism. Just think about the self-belief.”

At the same concert, he also criticized fans asking him and other celebrities to speak about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

“People like me need to talk about Israel and Palestine,” Healy said sarcastically. “I’m the guy—Brittany Broski, me, all those people are the people that you need. Don’t be a fucking idiot.”

This recent remark runs counter to Healy’s previous statements about the war-torn region. In 2019, he told NME that he was willing to perform in both Israel and Palenstine, stating that while he’s not a “diplomat or a politician” it’s “more my job than anybody’s to go places like this.”