Matty Healy has been condemned for a tweet he posted about the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.
On Monday (25 May), Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis after a white officer knelt on his neck during an arrest.
In footage of the incident, which has cause international outrage, Floyd can be heard saying: “I can’t breathe.”
Healy took to Twitter to post about the news, writing: “If you truly believe that ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ you need to stop facilitating the end of black ones.”
The tweet included a link to The 1975’s song “Love It If We Made It”, which includes lyrics about racism and police brutality.
Healy’s post prompted a huge backlash, with many accusing him of using the Black Lives Matter movement to promote his own music.
The musician defended himself in another tweet, writing: “Sorry I did not link my song in that tweet to make it about me it’s just that the song is literally about this disgusting situation and speaks more eloquently than I can on Twitter.”
Healy then deleted his account completely.
One Twitter user said: “Matty Healy is so ignorant I can’t believe he really tried to promote his song and then deactivated.”
Another wrote: “Matty Healy’s response to the murder of a black man was 1) tweeting a link to his own song 2) deleting the link to his song because it was insensitive and people were upset 3) tweeting the link to his song again 4) stropping and deactivating his entire account. What an ally.”
Some of Healy’s fans have tweeted support for him since he deleted his account, with one user writing: “It’s not my place to say anything but Matty Healy promoted a song that talks about racial injustice during a BLM movement and I don’t really see much wrong with it. I feel he was trying to bring attention to the issue with his music.”
Floyd’s death has led to widespread anger about police brutality in recent days. Ice Cube tweeted: “How long will we go for Blue on Black Crime before we strike back???”
John Boyega, meanwhile, was forced to defend his explicit anti-racism social media posts about the issue.
