On May 28, the Internet claimed yet another victim as The 1975 frontman Matty Healy leaves Twitter after facing backlash for expressing his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The 1975 lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist wrote, "If you truly believe that 'ALL LIVES MATTER' you need to stop facilitating the end of black ones." While the message was entirely an expression of support, Healy apparently made the fatal mistake of tagging their 2018 hit song "Love It If We Made It."
In the first verse was the line "Saying controversial things just for the hell of it/ Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men," with the "black men" referencing Eric Garner, who died in a very similar way as George Floyd back in 2014 in New York City.
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons) Twitter people took his post the wrong way, accusing him of riding the issue for promotion . Healy apologized, deleted-then-reposted his statement, and finally left the social media platform altogether.
However, Healy is not the first person to call it quits from the social media world. Here are 5 other musicians who left social media even before Matty Healy did.
Lizzo On January 6, 2020, Lizzo snapped on Twitter and wrote, "Yeah I can't do this Twitter sh*t no more.. too many trolls ... I'll be back when I feel like it." While the account was never deactivated, all following posts were signed "-mgmt," telling us that Lizzo did stay away from the infamous Twitter trolls. The "Truth Hurts" artist is still visible for her fans through her Instagram page .
Cardi B The "Bodak Yellow" took a one-week break from Instagram in May 2018 after a very public beef with fellow artist Azealia Banks . Cardi was called a "caricature of a black woman," starting a nasty back and forth that ended with Cardi B deleting her IG account. She did return to the platform a week after and now keeps in touch with her 66.3 million followers.
Justin Bieber Back in the summer of 2016, Biebs also had to quit Instagram courtesy of the trolls who left less-than-pleasant comments targeting his then-girlfriend Sofia Richie , a fashion model, and designer. He was off IG until February of the following year, where he regularly updates for his 137 million followers to see.
Ed Sheeran The British musician has been a favorite of trolls, although he has been nothing but kind and amazing with his music. In December 2015, he took a sabbatical from work and social media , returning the following year.
In July 2017, Ed had to quit Twitter again as he tried "to work out why people dislike me so much." While he has no feud or bad blood against any other artists, other fanbases, such as those of Lady Gaga's, have kept on attacking him. After returning to social media, he took another sabbatical last December.
Taylor Swift T-Swift was never one to back down, but in 2017 she swept all her social media accounts, and the world was shocked. However, it was not because of hackers or trolls, but because of a well-played marketing strategy in the promotion of her upcoming album "Reputation." She later restored her accounts and her position as one of the most-followed artists, with 133 million followers on Instagram alone.
Tags
The 1975 , Lizzo , Ed Sheeran , Justin Bieber , Cardi B , Taylor Swift