Matty Healy is in the hot seat for "queerbaiting" remarks about Harry Styles

New York, New York - The 1975's lead singer Matty Healy is stirring the pot in all the wrong ways thanks to a controversial interview where he labeled Harry Styles a "queerbaiter" before going on a bit of a racist and homophobic rant. Needless to say, people have questions.

Matty Healy (r) is getting heat for labeling Harry Styles a queerbaiter, along with making other offensive and racist remarks.
Matty Healy (r) is getting heat for labeling Harry Styles a queerbaiter, along with making other offensive and racist remarks.  © Collage: Robyn BECK / AFP / Dia Dipasupil / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

There's nothing out of the ordinary about Healy making head-scratching headlines. After all, he made questionable choices nearly every night of the 1975's latest tour, such as eating raw meat on stage and fondling himself mid-show.

While the singer is no stranger to making a controversial statement or two, it seems he's taken things a bit too far by coming for Styles in more ways than one in an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show podcast. Not only that, but he and the host also seemingly mocked Chinese, Hawaiian, and Japanese accents as well as the indigenous Scots language, which Healy labeled "medieval."

Speaking of Styles, Healy said the As It Was singer gets a "pass" for "queerbaiting," something the 29-year-old has been controversially called out for in the past.

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The 1975 lead singer added: "I don’t think the gays really like it. I think it’s young girls who think it’s a new thing who are like, 'Oh my God.'"

Dictionary.com defines Queerbaiting as "the practice of implying non-heterosexual relationships or attraction (in a TV show, for example) to engage or attract an LGBTQ audience or otherwise generate interest without ever actually depicting such relationships or sexual interactions."

Former Healy stans and current Healy foes flocked to Twitter in light of the singer's wildly offensive remarks. While some seemed devastated by Healy's sentiments, others questioned how fans of his didn't see this coming.

Twitter users call out Matty Healy's blind spot with latest remarks

Harry Styles has never publicly commented on his sexuality.
Harry Styles has never publicly commented on his sexuality.  © VALERIE MACON / AFP

One Twitter user wrote, "1975 stans discovering that Matty Healy is a dickhead every 5 months is so funny to me, how many times has he shown you who he is," while another tweeted, "y’all let matty healy get away with every ism on the planet but draw the line at him making fun of harry styles????? get a grip."

Someone else brought up another valid point: "Matty healy saying Harry queerbaits… how is Harry queerbaiting? You are basically assuming his sexuality."

The Music For a Sushi Restaurant singer has never publicly spoken about his sexuality, but he did address it in an interview with Better Homes & Gardens from April 2022: "I've been really open with it with my friends, but that’s my personal experience; it’s mine."

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In a different interview with Variety from August 2022, Styles combatted the queerbaiting claims he's previously faced: "Sometimes people say, 'You’ve only publicly been with women,' and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone."

"If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something," Styles added.

The former One Direction star has yet to comment on Healy's latest remarks.

Cover photo: Collage: Robyn BECK / AFP / Dia Dipasupil / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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