Final week, Kneecap stated that they’ve been going through a “coordinated smear marketing campaign” since their advocacy for Palestine throughout their Coachella set to convey consciousness to the continued genocide in Gaza. The UK authorities has now condemned the Northern Irish rap trio, and at present Kneecap made an announcement in response.
Since Coachella, Kneecap obtained backlash from Fox Information and Sharon Osbourne, the later of whom known as for Kneecap’s visas to be revoked. Shortly after, Kneecap parted methods with their reserving company, that means Kneecap not has a sponsor for his or her visas. Each the Hurricane Competition in northern Germany and its sister occasion the Southside Competition have dropped the act from the lineup.
Now, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated he didn’t assume “people expressing these views ought to be receiving authorities funding.” Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch tried to withdraw arts funding from Kneecap final yr, however Kneecap gained a discrimination case towards her and got the grant.
In current days, a video of Kneecap performing a gig in Nov. 2023 has resurfaced, capturing a member seemingly saying, “The one good Tory is a useless Tory. Kill your native MP.” One other video emerged from a Nov. 2024 present, through which a member seems to say, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” with a Hezbollah flag being displayed. Hamas and Hezbollah are each banned within the UK, and it’s against the law to precise help for them.
A Metropolitan police spokesman stated yesterday (Apr. 27), “We had been made conscious of a video on April 22, believed to be from an occasion in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism web referral unit for evaluation and to find out whether or not any additional police investigation could also be required.”
“We now have additionally been made conscious of one other video believed to be from an occasion in November 2023,” he added. This morning, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micháel Martin known as on Kneecap to “urgently make clear” their views.
Two MPs have been murdered within the final decade, together with Conservative MP Sir David Amess, whose daughter went on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster at present to debate Kneecap, demanding an apology and saying she was “gobsmacked on the stupidity of someone or a gaggle of individuals being within the public eye and saying such harmful, violent rhetoric.”
Of their assertion on Instagram, Kneecap apologized to the Amess household in addition to the Cox household (Labour MP Jo Cox was killed in 2016). In addition they stated they “don’t, and have by no means, supported Hamas or Hezbollah.” In addition they maintained that they “reject any suggestion that we’d search to incite violence towards any MP or particular person. Ever.” Learn it in full under.
They need you to imagine phrases are extra dangerous than genocide.
Institution figures, determined to silence us, have combed by means of a whole lot 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, at all times. 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’d search to incite violence towards 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 had been a name to motion.
This distortion will not be solely absurd — it’s a clear effort to derail the actual dialog.
All two million Palestinian folks in Gaza are presently being starved to loss of life by Israel. A minimum of 20,000 kids in Gaza have been killed.
The British authorities continues to produce arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS docs warned Keir Starmer in August that kids had been being systematically executed with sniper pictures to the pinnacle. As a substitute of defending harmless folks or the ideas of worldwide legislation, the highly effective in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.
That is the place actual anger and outrage ought to be directed in the direction of.
To the Amess and Cox households, we ship our heartfelt apologies, we by no means supposed to trigger you damage.
Kneecap’s message has at all times been and stays — one in every of love, inclusion, and hope. That is why our music resonates throughout generations, international locations, courses and cultures and has introduced a whole lot 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 concern and condemnation by the political courses of Britain. The true crimes will not be in our performances; the actual crimes are the silence and complicity of these in energy.
Disgrace on them.
