Jade Thirlwall is slamming Matty Healy for not wanting to talk about politics.
The 32-year-old “Angel of My Dreams” singer spoke out after the The 1975 musician gave a speech earlier this summer at Glastonbury Festival about the band’s legacy and keeping quiet on current events and politics.
In a new interview, Jade noted how it’s important to speak out about issues as an artist with a big platform.
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“I don’t think you can be a pop artist and cover your eyes,” she told The Guardian. “I saw Matty Healy say that he doesn’t want to be political, which I found disappointing. It’s very easy for someone who’s white and straight and very privileged to say that. Good for you, hun!”
She also opened up about her own comments at Glastonbury, where she led a chant of “F-ck you” to reform, welfare cuts, silencing protests and selling arms.
“I was ready for a backlash from the right kind of people,” Jade said. “I saw a lot of people saying ‘Your Glastonbury set was really good until you got political’ or ‘I used to be a fan of yours until you got political’. But, hun, you were never a fan, because I’ve always piped up.”
Back in 2015, she spoke out on the Little Mix Twitter/X account expressing her disappointment in the parliament voting to bomb Isil targets in Syria.
“I got in a bit of trouble for that,” she shared. “But I felt very passionate about it. I’m no expert in politics but I’ve always taken an interest. Around 9/11 I saw first‑hand the Islamophobia that my grandad experienced, and as someone of Arab heritage I’ve seen people turning a blind eye to the Middle Eastern tragedy. What’s quite funny is that we didn’t have individual Twitter accounts, and we each had to sign off tweets from the Little Mix account with our name. So I did my tweet about Syria and ended it with ‘xxJadexx’”
She also been a vocal supporter and defender of LGBTQ+ rights, Free Palestine and more. Back in early July, she walked in the Pride In London Parade with the Not a Phase organization, which is “a trans-led, nationwide charity committed to uplifting and improving the lives of trans+ adults, through awareness campaigning, social projects and funding trans+ lead initiatives.”
If you missed it, Jade also opened up in her Guardian interview about the daily battle of not going on Ozempic.