Ice Spice Was ‘So Confused’ Over Racist Comments From Matty Healy: ‘I Didn’t Really Care’
Back in April, when Matty Healy addressed the racist and derogatory comments he made and participated in about Ice Spice during an appearance on the Adam Freidland Show in February, it was through an odd non-apology. “Ice Spice, I’m sorry,” he told the audience during the 1975’s concert in New Zealand before clarifying: “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.”
It was an insufficient apology, especially when his offense — as well as Friedland, and his co-host Nick Mullen — was talking about the rapper’s body, calling her dumb, and mocking Chinese and Hawaiian accents while speculating about her ethnicity. And Healy must have known this. In a recent interview with Variety, Ice Spice opened up about the strange interaction with the frontman for the first time and revealed that he apologized to her “a bunch of times.”
“When I had heard that little podcast or whatever, I was so confused. Because I heard ‘chubby Chinese lady’ or some shit like that, and I’m like, ‘Huh? What does that even mean?’ First of all, I’m thick. What do you mean Chinese? What? But then they apologized or whatever,” the Bronx rapper explained. “And the whole time, I didn’t really care. But that’s funny because I saw him at the Jean Paul Gaultier party a couple days ago, and he was like, ‘Hey, you OK?’ and I’m like, ‘Of course.’ He apologized to me a bunch of times. We’re good.”
A few weeks before Healy’s podcast appearance was released, Ice Spice told Elle that her eclectic musical taste spanned genres, including alternative music, and that she was “obsessed” with the 1975. Around the time of his apology, the singer was rumored to be dating Taylor Swift, who conveniently collaborated with the rapper on a remix of “Karma” a month later. Healy and Swift have since split.
Ice Spice’s focus seems to be set on building her empire, which doesn’t leave much time to be concerned about what someone like Healy is wasting his time doing just to get a rise out of people. “Sometimes I just wake up and I’m like, ‘I’ma text Taylor’ or ‘I’ma text Nicki.’ And then they be answering, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that really makes me feel like that girl, for real,’” she added. “Them supporting me and just encouraging me gives me all the motivation I need.”