The 1975 frontman, Matty Healy, has managed to turn a misogynistic X (Twitter) argument into something more sinister. Here’s why he was forced to issue Azealia Banks an apology.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Words by Nikki Peach<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/imago368244924-scaled.jpg” alt=”Matty Healy” title_text=”The 1975 perform at Leeds Festival 2023 Matt Healy of The 1975 performs at Leeds Festival 2023, Bramham Park, Leeds, Eng” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″] Matty Healy from The 1975 has apologised after threatening to slap rapper Azealia Banks in an aggressive exchange on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n It all started when Banks shared some needlessly unkind thoughts about Charli XCX\u2019s appearance. \u2018Charli used to be soooo pretty,\u2019 she wrote, alongside a video of Charli from 2014, going on to say that she has been too heavily influenced by drag queen culture, adding ‘It’s the weho drag queens and this eye tape shit . Sis was already fab and it really be the weho girls trying to turn fish to drag. Like they are actually the biggest haters on earth I have seen then turn mad of my pretty artist friends into shells of themselves.’<\/span><\/p>\n Banks is known for sharing her inner monologue on social media and is certainly not averse to ruffling a few feathers. In fact, she\u2019s publicly trolled Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, T.I, Erykah Badu, Lil\u2019 Kim, Beyonce, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell, Lily Allen, Rita Ora, Action Bronson, Eminem, Kenrick Lamar, Rihanna, Lana Del Rey and Doechii over the years. You get the gist.<\/p>\n This time, however, it is not Charli XCX herself who has taken umbrage with Banks\u2019 remarks, it\u2019s her friend Healy, who is in The 1975 with her fianc\u00e9, George Daniel, and who she has previously referred to as \u2018a brother\u2019.<\/p>\n Well, sometimes siblings make things worse. Healy shared Banks\u2019 comments on X and wrote, \u2018Azealia you seem to have a blind spot when it comes to your \u201creads\u201d. All the women you attack seem to be culturally relevant, attractive, divisive and NICE people. I think this makes you jealous cos you\u2019re so talented but everything else about you is a failure. Just rap bro.\u2019<\/p>\n Banks then responded to say \u2018this b**ch look like Frankenstein to me\u2019 in an apparent reference to Healy\u2019s fianc\u00e9, Gabriette Bechtel. \u2018And on that point,\u2019 he continued, \u2018if I see one thing about my Gabi, EVER, I will use my mental illness to full affect and I will dox and f**k you up I\u2019m so over pretending to have different standards online cos it\u2019s \u201cnot real\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n He then incriminated himself by writing, \u2018I\u2019ll f**king slap you so hard I\u2019ll get a Guinness world record.\u2019 It\u2019s perhaps worth pointing out right now that Healy is 35 years old.<\/p>\n The rest of the argument is not worth repeating, although Healy did issue an apology for threatening the \u2018212\u2019 singer. \u2018I can\u2019t be saying I\u2019m gonna hit a girl that\u2019s insane I\u2019m sorry,\u2019 he offered. \u2018You just can\u2019t keep being so mean about my mates and my mrs it\u2019s really hurtful gets me well defensive.\u2019<\/p>\n An in a final desperate clutch to resolve the drama, Healy added, \u2018no but we should actually sort this out on the remix\u2019 in a reference to Charli and Lorde\u2019s remix of \u2018Girl, So Confusing\u2019 from Charli\u2019s 2024 album, Brat.<\/p>\n Healy has since deleted the \u2018slap\u2019 tweet, but its digital footprint remains, and its impact is far-reaching. \u2018Matty Healy\u2019s instinct when he\u2019s getting into a dispute with a woman is to get violent,\u2019 one X post read. Another user wrote, \u2018Matty Healy threatening to slap a woman in the year 2024\u2026 but his deranged fans told me he\u2019d changed, how can this be?\u2019<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” global_colors_info=”{}”] Regardless of what Healy thought of Banks\u2019 initial dig, it is alarming to see a public figure with an army of impressionable fans weaponise their mental health and resort to threats of physical violence so easily on social media. Who he is threatening and why is almost beside the point, though the fact Banks is a Black woman has, understandably, not gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n Healy has a long history of questionable and offensive behaviour. In February 2023, Healy appeared on The Adam Friedland Show and angered several people with racist and derogatory comments about rapper Ice Spice. In the episode, he and the hosts did racist impressions of how they imagined Ice Spice\u2019s accent would sound and referred to her as \u2018this chubby Chinese lady\u2019 and \u2018Inuit Spice Girl\u2019.<\/p>\n During the same episode, he joked about masturbating to hardcore porn in which Black women are humiliated and \u2018brutalised\u2019. The episode has since been removed from Spotify and Apple. Speaking at The 1975 concert in New Zealand, Healy attempted to apologise and said he can \u2018take it too far sometimes in front of too many people\u2019. He then added, \u2018I don\u2019t want Ice Spice to think I\u2019m a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I\u2019m so sorry.\u2019<\/p>\n Is it any wonder, then, why his clash with Banks has gained so much traction? Even without the context of his past behaviour, Healy\u2019s recent exchange with Banks is harmful, derogatory and not what you would expect from a 35-year-old man who had no reason to get involved in the first place.<\/p>\n For many, it is impossible to view their exchange outside of this context. The same way it is impossible to view Banks\u2019 original comments outside the context of her past behaviour too.<\/p>\n She made an unprompted, misogynistic and public dig at one of her peers \u2013 a peer who, we hasten to add, is currently at the top of her game, enjoying viral, critical and commercial success \u2013 that is in and of itself disappointing.<\/p>\n Healy\u2019s two cents, however, have diverted attention away from the original comment and turned the argument into something far uglier \u2013 one which degrades women, escalates online trolling and exposes his repeated lack of judgement. There is nothing brat about that.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”] Photo: <\/b>IMAGO<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018I\u2019ll f**king slap you so hard I\u2019ll get a Guinness world record.\u2019 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"guestgrazia","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5522"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5547,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5522\/revisions\/5547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}‘I\u2019ll f**king slap you so hard I\u2019ll get a Guinness world record.’<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]