The 1975 frontman Matt Healy has issued a statement clarifying some controversial comments he made about drugs and misogyny in hip-hop.
The comments in question came during a recent interview with The FADER, after he was quizzed on his perspective on drugs in the music industry. According to the news site, this was Healy’s reply:
“One of the problems is the youth of hip-hop. At the moment, with SoundCloud rap, it’s become a bit of a drug-taking competition, and that happened in rock’n’roll. Those things get weeded out the longer those things exist. The reason misogyny doesn’t happen in rock’n’roll anymore is because it’s a vocabulary that existed for so long is that it got weeded out. It still exists in hip-hop because [the genre] is so young, but it’ll stop. That’s why you have this moment with young black men—Kanye-aged men, as well—talking about their relationship with themselves, which is a big step forward for hip-hop. Drake, for example. But then they’ll be like, “But I still got bitches.” The scene’s relationship with women hasn’t caught up to its relationship with itself, but that’s something that will happen.
I don’t know what the ‘industry’ is but the industry seems to be very hip-hop-led at the moment, promoting the idea of being spaced-out because it’s going through a psychedelic moment. One of the reasons why I was so terrified of being exposed that I was using heroin is because of how much of a cliche it would make me. You know me enough already to understand that the idea of me doing something that’s an actual rock’n’roll cliche is something I’d want to avoid. We don’t have the cliches of Xanax yet. It’s scary. The reason that Peep resonated with me so much is that he died while I was in rehab. He’s 10 years younger than me.”
After sparking backlash among hip-hop fans, Healy has now apologised for what he says were “patronising, uninformed, and reductive” comments.
Taking to Twitter to address the situation, the singer clarified his intentions.
“What I said isn’t correct,” he writes in a string of tweets. “And it’s not all a misquote. Just for clarity I said that misogyny wasn’t ALLOWED in rock and roll now days in a way it is in hip hop — not that it doesn’t exist, that’s maybe a misquote as I’m aware of the misogyny in rocknroll…
“I would never deny the RAMPANT misogyny that exists in rock’n’roll. It’s everywhere and has been a weirdly accepted part of it since its inception.”
He continues: “Just to clarify I’m not apologising for saying ‘rock music is void of misogyny’. I didn’t say that. Any body who says that is not only thick as fuck they most probably don’t have physical eyes. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
“I’m apologising for the fact my words could INSINUATE that misogyny in culture and music is an exclusively hip hop (black) issue. I do not believe that. What I believe is that I’m not educated enough to speak on THAT properly and a big part of that is this white dick that I have”.
You can read more of what Healy had to say in his tweets below, or catch The 1975 touring live across Australia in September of 2019.
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070372780812595200
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070373091086344192
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070373511183679488
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070376039740829696
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070384095253942274
https://twitter.com/Truman_Black/status/1070384281170661382
