Matty Healy Dismisses Concerns About Controversial Podcast: ‘It Doesn’t Actually Matter’
In a candid new interview aptly titled — "Who Is Matty Healy?" — The 1975 frontman addressed his controversial appearance on The Adam Friedland Show, and declared any concerns about his past comments “don’t actually matter.”
In The New Yorker profile, published on Monday, May 29, the 34-year-old singer explained that the podcast was an opportunity to do press that felt more like catching up with friends — Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen — amid a lengthy promo tour. When asked whether he’s “baited his fans on purpose” in the past, Healy responded: “A little bit.”
“But it doesn’t actually matter,” he continued. “Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ and they go, ‘It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.”
When the journalist argued, “Maybe it does,” Healy doubled down.
“If it does, you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar,” he said. “You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt. It’s just people going, ‘Oh, there’s a bad thing over there, let me get as close to it as possible so you can see how good I am.’ And I kind of want them to do that, because they’re demonstrating something so base level.”
Healy made waves in February as he and the podcast hosts poked fun at Ice Spice, with Friedland and Mullen mocking Chinese and Hawaiian accents. While the “About You” singer later apologized to the rapper on stage — “I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a d—k. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry." — Healy didn’t directly address his remarks about watching "Ghetto Gaggers,” a porn website that features the degradation of women of color.
The podcast episode — which has been pulled from Spotify and Apple Podcasts — resurfaced amid Healy’s romance with Taylor Swift. Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that the duo are dating after meeting in 2014.
“Taylor has been spending much more time with Matty lately and she’s getting to like him the more she gets to know him,” a source told Us of the 33-year-old Grammy winner. “Although they briefly dated in the past, it was so long ago, so she feels like she’s learning new things about him all over again. It’s so refreshing, and she’s happier than she’s been in a long time. Things between them are fairly new, so it’s hard to tell if they’ll go the distance. But he makes Taylor really happy, and she wants to be with him whenever she has the chance.”
While they’ve been spotted holding hands during various outings in New York City, Healy and Swift have yet to publicly comment on their relationship with the exception of cryptic comments on stage at their respective shows. The “You’re Losing Me” songstress — who split from longtime partner Joe Alwyn earlier this year — told a crowd in Massachusetts on May 20 that she’s “never been this happy in my life in all aspects of my life ever before.” Healy, meanwhile, seemingly referred to the speculation as he hit the stage at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend music festival on Sunday, May 28.
“Is it all a bit? Is it sincere? Will he ever address it?” Healy said. “All of these questions and more will be ignored in the next hour. Ladies and gentlemen, this is The 1975.”
In his New Yorker profile, the journalist noted that she “kept getting texts from people who knew” Healy and Swift who “insisted” their romance was the real deal.
In the piece, Healy concluded: “I’m not trying to make myself famous. I want to be known for what I do. But now fame is about being known for who you are. And people are complicated. If people are going to make me this famous, I’m going to make people work for it.”
