(L) Matty Healy. Photo by Ian Purple Yellow via Wikimedia Commons. (R) Ice Spice. Photo via publicist.
The 1975's Matty Healy apologized to Ice Spice during a recent concert in New Zealand. The singer has been embroiled in a controversy over his February appearance on the comedy podcast The Adam Friedland Show, in which Healy and the hosts Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen crack jokes about Ice Spice's race and ethnicity while doing impressions of Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian accents.
In a meandering two-minute speech clipped on TikTok, Healy reflects on his public persona as "a bit of a joker" while repeatedly apologizing to Ice Spice and proclaiming his appreciation for the rapper. Watch it below, followed by the transcript, via Stereogum.
I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you. Ice Spice, I’m sorry. It’s not because I’m annoyed that me joking got misconstrued. It’s because I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.
I don’t want anything like that misconstrued to be mean. I don’t mind being a bit of a joker… It’s OK for me to be, like, a trickster or whatever, but I don’t want to be seen as, like, being barmy. Because honestly, I just love you guys, and I love doing this…
The truth is it’s a bit of a problem because I just want to say, “Hello. This is a bit embarrassing. I’m sorry if I get it wrong. We all get it wrong.” I just have to do it in public and then apologize to Ice Spice. My life’s just a bit weird. I am genuinely sorry if I’ve upset her because I fucking love her.
The episode was removed from Apple Music and Spotify in April. It remains available on YouTube.
