Matty Healy all but dismissed his controversial February comments about Ice Spice, just under a week after his rumored girlfriend Taylor Swift released a collab of “Karma” with her. When asked by The New Yorker if he was “baiting” fans by taking part in mocking her and her ethnicity, he admitted, “A little bit. But it doesn’t actually matter. 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 Matt Healy.’ That doesn’t happen.”
He also stated in the profile, which was published on Wednesday, May 31, that anyone who felt hurt by the comments was a “liar.” When pressed by the interviewer (Jia Tolentino), who suggested maybe people do become very upset over his comments, he shot back. “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.”
His original comments were given in February during an episode of The Adam Friedland Show podcast. After claiming he tried to contact the rapper via DM, and never receiving a response, the podcast’s hosts mocked several accents and flung jokes about Ice. Matty did not speak in an accent along with them, but he was heard laughing along during the cast.
Amid the drama, Taylor dropped the catchy remix of “Karma” with Ice Spice, followed by a video, followed by appearance together onstage. Though the collab was praised, others were less impressed, and accused Taylor via social media of attempting to squelch the controversy with the release.
Meanwhile, the 1975 frontman issued a heartfelt apology directly to Ice Spice during a New Zealand concert in April. “Sorry if I’ve offended you, Ice Spice. I’m sorry,” he said in a clip circulated via social media channels. “It’s not because I’m annoyed that me being joking got misconstrued. It’s ’cause I don’t want Ice Spice to think that I’m a d***. I love you, Ice Spice. It’s OK for me to be, like, a trickster or whatever, but I don’t want to be perceived as mean-hearted. Matty continued, professing that he is “genuinely sorry” for the comments because “I f****** love her.”