Matty Healy went on The Adam Friedland Show to attack Harry Styles; accuses him of ‘queer-baiting

Matty Healy went on The Adam Friedland Show to attack Harry Styles; accuses him of ‘queer-baiting.

The 1975 singer, who is the son of Loose Women star Denise Welch, is no stranger to making headlines, from making out with fans during concerts to mocking an Irish girl’s name in a viral video.

Now the musician has become the Twitter Main Character once again as social media erupts following comments Matty made about Grammy-winner Harry.

Speaking on The Adam Friedland Show podcast, Matty said the One Direction star, who has not labeled his sexuality, gets a ‘pass’ for ‘queerbaiting’ but he doesn’t know why.

Queerbaiting’ relates to a ploy most often seen in TV and films that aim to appeal to an LGBT+ audience by teasing, suggesting but never confirming, that a character or characters are queer.

The hosts suggested that gay men don’t care when a straight man pretends to be gay, describing it as ‘prancing around saying “Who wants to f*** my a**,’ and shockingly said it was as though Harry had ‘got the N-word pass from the gay community.’

Matty half-heartedly attempted to push back, saying ‘maybe it’s not all gay guys, but a lot of them,’ before the conversation moved on again.

On February 9, 2023, Matty Healy’s episode of The Adam Friedland Show came out.

In the interview, Matty said: “Did you see that Pink’s getting canceled for looking like a lesbian for her career and now that’s being regarded as queerbaiting? Loads of 18-year-olds are being like, ‘She’s done irreparable damage to the lesbian community’.”

The term “queerbaiting”, as per StudySmarter, refers to a marketing strategy used in pop culture media such as TV, fiction, and music that baits audiences into consuming a product with an empty promise of same-sex relationships or LGBTQ+ representation. 

Adam Friedland then responded, asking Matty: “Why do they let Harry Styles do that?” Matty replied: “He gets a pass, I don’t know… I actually don’t think the gays really like it, it’s young girls that think it’s a new thing that are like, ‘Oh my God’.”

He added: “Maybe it’s not all gay guys but it’s a lot of them.” In 2019, the Chocolate singer even kissed a male fan on stage at a concert in Dubai, where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

One fan said: “This Matty Healy podcast genuinely sounds like listening to a group of sex-deprived teenage boys. It’s actually terrifying,” they added, referring to misogynistic and homophobic vocabulary, and “overall derogatory tones of the entire thing.”

Another Twitter user wrote: “I don’t know anything about the 1975 or Matty Healy but there’s no excuses for this behavior and it’s honestly so gross what the hell.”