In their relatively short tenure in the public eye, Irish language rap trio Kneecap have become possibly the most controversial, establishment-riling, genuinely disruptive musical group since the Sex Pistols. There has been a near universally-acclaimed album, last summer’s Fine Art, and - far less predictably - a Michael Fassbender-starring band biopic that won them the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award and a clutch of Bafta nominations.
But drowning out their considerable artistic achievements has been a constant slew of headlines and think pieces decrying them as either a national threat or vital truth-tellers, depending on your stance.
Now, arguments around Kneecap’s politics have escalated into a far wider conversation around freedom of expression in the arts, and how, when or if ever it is acceptable for that to be policed. Amidst cries for the trio to be removed from this year’s Glastonbury line-up, artists and industry figures have rallied to call out the dangers of censorship, with dozens of musicians including Pulp, Fontaines DC, English Teacher and IDLES co-signing a letter from the band’s label Heavenly Recordings around the “clear, concerted effort to deplatform Kneecap… and remove them from the public eye”.
It reads: “In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people. The question of agreeing with Kneecap’s political views is irrelevant: it is in the key interests of every artist that all creative expression be protected in a society that values culture, and that this interference campaign is condemned and ridiculed.”
It’s not the first time that the trio - Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí - have found themselves at the centre of a media furore. Back in June of last year, they made headlines after taking legal action over Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch’s attempts to block government arts funding to them, with Badenoch stating that taxpayers’ money should not be given to “people who oppose the United Kingdom itself”.
A reaction against Kneecap’s political missives, which had previously included the release of 2019 single ‘Get Your Brits Out’ (a repurposing of the IRA slogan) and a tour poster featuring a cartoon of Boris Johnson strapped to the side of a rocket, Kneecap countered that the block was a breach of the Good Friday agreement allowing freedom of expression for all sides in Northern Ireland and subsequently won the case, donating the original £14,250 funding to two Belfast youth charities.
Following their recent Coachella appearance last month, however, the heat around them has risen to a critical mass. Projecting a series of statements onto the screen behind them, the trio weren’t the only people to offer pro-Palestinian messages at the California event (artists including headliners Green Day, Clairo, Amyl and the Sniffers and more also spoke out), but they were the ones who pointed the finger with the most ferocity. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people” read one slide. “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine.”
Though Kneecap have been vocally condemning the actions in Gaza for a long time now, also projecting ‘Free Palestine’ messages and bringing Palestinian flags onto the stage during their early morning Glastonbury slot on the Woodsies stage last year, Coachella has proved a tipping point. Detractors have dug up a pair of inflammatory videos from 2023 and 2024 which have led, amongst fervent discourse around the globe, to a forthcoming investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit. In one, the band appear to say “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP”; in another, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.
It is, of course, impossible to justify either of these moments. A statement released by Kneecap apologising to the families of murdered MPs Jo Cox and David Amess does not stop the original sentiment’s shocking irresponsibility. But it does show that the band take accountability and can see the line between a belief and a mistake.
Kneecap are hands down the three most caring men we've ever met
Having recently toured the US with Kneecap, Laurie Vincent of UK punk duo SOFT PLAY expresses the need to discern the difference.
“Kneecap have been careless with some of their wording in the past and that is something they are paying for hugely now. However they've apologised, and I am so tired of a world where forgiveness is so easily forgotten,” he tells us. “The energy of a moment has made people do stupid things since the dawn of time. We simply have all fucked up. It's inevitable. However the real issue is the one of bombs dropping on innocent children's heads: the issue that is being obscured even more from view as the media decides to focus all of its attention on Kneecap instead.”
He continues: “Kneecap are hands down the three most caring men we've ever met in all our years of our touring. Their band has a cultural significance we haven't seen since the original punk bands of the late seventies. They are fearlessly tackling issues that many aren't brave enough to even get close to. To deplatform them would send a dangerous message to all those who follow.”
A string of Kneecap’s German shows have been cancelled, as has a forthcoming August festival headline at Cornwall’s Eden Project. Now, government figures including Badenoch, security minister Dan Jarvis and Conservative former minister Mark Francois are putting pressure on Glastonbury Festival bosses Michael and Emily Eavis to remove Kneecap from the festival line-up next month, which will see Olivia Rodrigo, Neil Young and The 1975 headline the Pilton event. Were they to do so, the decision would undoubtedly set a defining and divisive precedent for the UK arts but it would also feel monumental for the festival itself: an event that has long provided a fertile ground for political conversation, even donating its profits to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament back in 1981.
Kneecap's platform should not be revoked because the message encourages discussion
Just last year, several artists used their slots at the festival to make statements. During IDLES’ Friday night Other Stage headline slot, an inflatable boat with dummy migrants was cast atop the crowd, with reports linking the moment to Banksy. During his surprise appearance with Bombay Bicycle Club, Damon Albarn urged crowds to vote before questioning: “Are you pro Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war? Maybe it’s time we stopped putting octogenarians in charge of the whole world?”
“The political landscape in this country is dying and needs to resuscitate itself to the sounds of a changing humanity, and as creatives we shouldn’t be forced to self-censor in line with the general cultural [and] political narrative,” Sleaford Mods’ frontman Jason Williamson tells us. “Some individuals are rightly deserving of cancel culture’s creeping onslaught, but mostly, truth is a questionable entity when it comes to the rabid frenzy of cancellation. The live stage is where we as musicians truly come alive, and Kneecap's platform should not be revoked simply because the message encourages discussion.”
Taking to Instagram yesterday, Massive Attack published their own statement decrying the attempts to stop Kneecap from performing. “Do politicians and right-wing journalists strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage utterings of a young punk band, while simultaneously obfuscating or even ignoring a genocide happening in real time (including the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers) have any right to intimidate festival events into acts of political censorship?” Meanwhile, musician Nadine Shah posted: “The story isn’t Kneecap. The real story is genocide. Kneecap are being made an example of to scare us into silence from speaking out. But if we are silent, we are complicit. So do not let artists be censored. Get louder. Free Palestine”.
Speaking to the Standard, The Horrors’ Faris Badwan - whose father is Palestinian - underlined this idea. “People should always be free to hold the government to account, no matter which people, no matter which government. One rule for everyone. No race is superior to another.”
Glastonbury have yet to comment on the campaign or to confirm whether Kneecap will indeed play the festival, but much like the world’s reaction to their actions at Coachella, the story here isn’t about Kneecap playing this summer. The story is whether an internet pile-on will change the future of the arts for the long haul.
