Kneecap have issued a defiant assertion calling out institution critics amid mounting requires the Belfast hip-hop group to be pulled from main competition payments within the UK.
The trio – rappers Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh) and Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) plus DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) – have come beneath the microscope in latest weeks following their provocative performances on the Coachella competition. Throughout their two units on the Californian competition, as at each present they’ve carried out for the previous 18 months, Kneecap expressed their assist for the Palestinian individuals, amid on-going assaults on Gaza by the Israeli navy, triggered by the October 7, 2023 bloodbath of 1,195 individuals in Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Kneecap have performed profit exhibits for Palestine since their inception: proceeds from earlier exhibits raised funds for a fitness center within the Aida Refugee Camp within the West Financial institution. Final 12 months, the West Belfast group – and each different Irish act on the competition line-up – withdrew from the annual South By South West occasion in Austin, Texas upon studying that the competition took sponsorship cash from the US military and defence contractors which provide weapons to Israel. And final summer season, throughout their efficiency at Studying and Leeds festivals, the trio displayed an on-stage message studying “The British Authorities is enabling a genocide in Gaza.”
At Coachella, Kneecap displayed comparable messaging, stating “Israel is committing genocide in opposition to the Palestinian individuals. It’s being enabled by the US authorities who arm and fund Israel regardless of their battle crimes. Fuck Israel, Free Palestine.” Rapper Mo Chara additionally requested the gang, “When you’re not calling it a genocide, what the fuck are you calling it?”
The band’s Coachella efficiency drew widespread condemnation from inside the US music business, and led to the group and their US reserving company parting firm. Sharon Osbourne was among the many most vocal critics of the band, claiming that Coachella “compromised its ethical and non secular integrity” by permitting Kneecap (and Inexperienced Day and others) to criticise Israel from its levels. Osbourne additionally urged that Kneecap’s visas for future US gigs must be revoked.
As stress has mounted on the band, information has additionally emerged that footage of two Kneecap gigs are being assessed by counter-terrorism police within the UK, with the trio being accused of voicing assist for proscribed terror organisations Hamas and Hezbollah at a November 2024 present in London, and one other declare, related to a gig one 12 months earlier, accusing a band member of stating, “The one good Tory is a useless Tory. Kill your native MP.”
The Metropolitan Police subsequently issued a press release saying that their evaluation of each clips will “decide whether or not additional police investigation is required.”
Media studies on the second of those accusations additionally led to condemnation of the group from the households of murdered Conservative MP David Amess, and murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, and provoked calls from standing MPs for the band to be taken off British competition payments, together with Glastonbury and TRNSMT.
In a press release issued final evening, Kneecap apologised to the households of each late MPs, however re-affirmed their assist for the Palestinian individuals.
The assertion in full reads:
“They need you to imagine phrases are extra dangerous than genocide.
“Institution figures, determined to silence us, have combed by means of tons of of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of phrases from months or years in the past to fabricate ethical hysteria.
“Allow us to be unequivocal: we don’t, and have by no means, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all assaults on civilians, all the time. It’s by no means okay. We all know this greater than anybody, given our nation’s historical past.
“We additionally reject any suggestion that we might search to incite violence in opposition to any MP or particular person. Ever. An extract of footage, intentionally taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it have been a name to motion.
“This distortion will not be solely absurd – it’s a clear effort to derail the true dialog.
“All two million Palestinian individuals in Gaza are at the moment being starved to demise by Israel.
“A minimum of 20,000 kids in Gaza have been killed. The British authorities continues to provide arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS docs warned Keir Starmer in August that kids have been being systematically executed with sniper pictures to the pinnacle.
“As a substitute of defending harmless individuals or the ideas of worldwide regulation, the highly effective in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.
“That is the place actual anger and outrage must be directed in direction of.
“To the Amess and Cox households, we ship our heartfelt apologies, we by no means meant to trigger you damage.
“Kneecap’s message has all the time been – and stays – one in all love, inclusion, and hope. That is why our music resonates throughout generations, nations, courses and cultures and has introduced tons of of hundreds of individuals to our gigs.
“No smear marketing campaign will change that.
“Out of the blue, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there’s an avalanche of shock and condemnation by the political courses of Britain.
“The actual crimes should not in our performances; the true crimes are the silence and complicity of these in energy.
“Disgrace on them.”
As but, the band haven’t been faraway from any UK competition payments, although their invites to carry out at two German festivals have been withdrawn.