Though Ice Spice features on Taylor Swift’s new song, that hasn’t stopped the discourse around her boyfriend Matty Healy’s controversial comments about the rapper.
In a recently published interview with The New Yorker, Healy discussed his controversial podcast appearance earlier this year with racial comments about Ice Spice. However, the lead singer of The 1975 insisted fans aren’t as upset about the remarks as they appear on social media.
“If it does,” he said, “you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar. 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.”
As Blavity reported, Healy appeared on The Adam Friedland Show in February, with the host playing a clip of the Bronx native expressing how much she loved The 1975’s music. Friedland and Healey then made racial comments about the “Princess Diana” rapper. They said she sounded like an “Inuit Spice Girl” and a “chubby Chinese lady.” As the duo continued laughing, they also imitated Chinese and Hawaiian accents.
Earlier this month, the 34-year-old publicly apologized to Ice during a show in Auckland, New Zealand.
“I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you,” he said of the Nigerian and Dominican musician.
“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 d**k. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry. I don’t want it to be misconstrued as mean. I don’t mind being a bit of a joker… but I am genuinely sorry if I’ve upset them because I f**king love them,” he added.
Healy also faced backlash from Swift’s fanbase over the insensitive comments about Ice and admitting to masturbating to Ghetto Gabbers, the hardcore pornography site focusing on the degradation and humiliation of Black women in a sexual manner, per Blavity.
The Swifties were unamused by Healy’s comments and called out the singer for being in a relationship with someone with a history of problematic behavior. However, Swift seemingly redirected the fans’ anger and welcomed the up-and-coming artist into her circle. On May 24, she released the remix to her latest single, “Karma,” with Ice’s infectious lyrics on the track.
Still, many believe Swift’s attempt to alleviate the tension stemming from her boyfriend is an issue Black women face in all areas of the workforce: having to associate with white women with questionable partners, Essence reported.
