Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap proceed to face backlash for their pro-Palestine, anti-Israel statements made at Coachella 2025, leading to a complete of 5 concert events in Germany being canceled as of April thirtieth. On the similar time, they’ve garnered assist from a number of UK acts, together with Huge Assault and artists signed to Kneecap’s label, Heavenly Recordings.
Final week, the group’s June appearances at Hurricane Competition and Southside Competition had been pulled, reportedly with out rationalization. Whereas Kneecap initially directed followers to scheduled headlining reveals in Hamburg, Berlin, and Cologne after confirming the competition cancellations, these concert events have now additionally been canceled.
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The cancellations could also be linked to Germany’s strict hate speech legal guidelines. As The Hollywood Reporter factors out, the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the ocean” has been interpreted by some German courts as anti-Israel hate speech and thus deemed a felony offense in some states, together with Berlin. In the event you recall, a Roger Waters live performance in Frankfurt, Germany scheduled in 2023 was canceled for related causes.
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Individually, the UK’s Counter Terrorism Web Referral Unit has launched an investigation into statements allegedly made by Kneecap in 2023 and 2024, wherein they known as for the loss of life of Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) and expressed assist for Hamas and Hezbollah. At one live performance, a member allegedly mentioned, “The one good Tory is a useless Tory. Kill your native MP,” and at one other, a member allegedly shouted, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.” The UK authorities considers Hamas a terrorist group, and prohibits the assist of terrorist teams by legislation.
In response to the investigation, Kneecap have launched an announcement clarifying they “don’t, and have by no means, supported Hamas or Hezbollah.” In addition they apologized to the households of two MPs who had been killed lately, one by an ISIS supporter and the opposite by a neo-Nazi.
They added, “The true crimes usually are not in our performances; the actual crimes are the silence and complicity of these in energy.” The group has additionally claimed they’re dealing with a “coordinated smear marketing campaign” following information of the investigation by the UK police and authorities.
A number of UK acts have expressed their assist for Kneecap, notably within the wake of the police investigation. In an Instagram publish, trip-hop pioneers Huge Assault criticized the give attention to Kneecap’s feedback as an alternative of the disaster in Gaza. “Do politicians and right-wing journalists strategically concocting ethical outrage over the stage utterings of a younger punk band, whereas concurrently obfuscating and even ignoring a genocide taking place in actual time (together with the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers) have any proper to intimidate competition occasions into acts of political censorship?” they wrote.
The Bristol band continued, “Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story. And the silence, acquiescence, and assist of these crimes in opposition to humanity by the elected British authorities is the actual story.”
Heavenly Recordings, Kneecap’s label, additionally launched an open letter defending the group’s freedom of expression in opposition to what it described as a “clear, concerted try and censor and finally de-platform the band,” probably influenced by figures inside the music business. “The query of agreeing with Kneecap’s political opinions is irrelevant: it’s in the important thing pursuits of each artist that every one inventive expression be protected in a society that values tradition, and that this interference marketing campaign is condemned and ridiculed,” it reads.
The letter has been signed by greater than 40 distinguished artists, together with Pulp, English Trainer, Fontaines D.C., IDLES, Primal Scream, The Pogues, Huge Assault, Sleaford Mods, and extra.
Amid the controversy, Kneecap’s music has seen a surge in recognition. In response to Billboard, their weekly US on-demand streams almost doubled within the two weeks following their Coachella units, rising from 431,000 to 852,000.
For individuals who aren’t acquainted with the preliminary controversy, Kneecap’s set at Coachella weekend one included “Free Palestine” and anti-Margaret Thatcher chants, which had been minimize from the official reside stream. Through the second weekend, which was not livestreamed, they went a step additional by bringing out streamer Hasan Piker to broadcast their protest and displaying the phrases “Fuck Israel, free Palestine” on the screens behind them. Following their units, public outrage poured in, together with from Sharon Osbourne, who known as for his or her work visas to be rescinded.
Learn the total statements from Kneecap, Huge Assault, and Heavenly Recordings beneath.
KNEECAP STATEMENT:
They need you to consider phrases are extra dangerous than genocide.
Institution figures, determined to silence us, have combed via tons of of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of phrases from months or years in the past to fabricate ethical… pic.twitter.com/qZht5532Zf
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 28, 2025