Last week, Kneecap said that they've been facing a "coordinated smear campaign" since their advocacy for Palestine during their Coachella set to bring awareness to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The UK government has now condemned the Northern Irish rap trio, and today Kneecap made a statement in response.
Since Coachella, Kneecap received backlash from Fox News and Sharon Osbourne, the later of whom called for Kneecap's visas to be revoked. Shortly after, Kneecap parted ways with their booking agency, meaning Kneecap no longer has a sponsor for their visas. Both the Hurricane Festival in northern Germany and its sister event the Southside Festival have dropped the act from the lineup.
Now, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he did not think "individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding." Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to withdraw arts funding from Kneecap last year, but Kneecap won a discrimination case against her and were given the grant.
In recent days, a video of Kneecap performing a gig in Nov. 2023 has resurfaced, capturing a member seemingly saying, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Another video emerged from a Nov. 2024 show, in which a member appears to say, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” with a Hezbollah flag being displayed. Hamas and Hezbollah are both banned in the UK, and it's a crime to express support for them.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said yesterday (Apr. 27), “We were made aware of a video on April 22, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required."
“We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023," he added. This morning, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micháel Martin called on Kneecap to "urgently clarify" their views.
Two MPs have been murdered in the last decade, including Conservative MP Sir David Amess, whose daughter went on BBC's Good Morning Ulster today to discuss Kneecap, demanding an apology and saying she was “gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric.”
In their statement on Instagram, Kneecap apologized to the Amess family as well as the Cox family (Labour MP Jo Cox was killed in 2016). They also said they "do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah." They also maintained that they "reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever." Read it in full below.
They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide.
Establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria.
Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation's history. We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever.
An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.
This distortion is not only absurd — it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation.
All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel. At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed.
The British government continues to supply arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS doctors warned Keir Starmer in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head. Instead of defending innocent people or the principles of international law, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.
This is where real anger and outrage should be directed towards.
To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.
Kneecap's message has always been and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs.
No smear campaign will change that.
Suddenly, days after calling out the us administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain. The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power.
Shame on them.
