Glastonbury Organiser Breaks Silence On Controversy Over Kneecap's Spot On This Year's Line-Up

Yahoo

5 hours ago

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has spoken out about the controversy surrounding Kneecap's upcoming performance after Worthy Farm opened its gates to festival-goers for another year.
On Wednesday morning, Emily was interviewed by BBC Breakfast, where she was asked how she and the Glastonbury team had responded to prime minister Keir Starmer's comment that the West Belfast hip-hop trio – one member of whom was recently charged with a terror offence over alleged comments made at a gig in London at the end of last year – should not be allowed to perform at Glastonbury.
'We haven't responded to that,' she began. 'At the moment we're just focussing on bringing the best festival to the people who want to come here. We're incredibly lucky that so many people want to come to Glastonbury, it blows us away.'
Emily added: 'There have been a lot of very heated topics this year, but we remain just a platform for many, many artists from all over the world. You know, everyone is welcome here.'
'Everyone is welcome here'Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis spoke to #BBCBreakfast after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the band Kneecap shouldn't perform at the Festival, after one of the band was charged with a terror offencehttps://t.co/u1fDIRbSgdpic.twitter.com/jefm3wmkro
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) June 25, 2025
Kneecap have been at the centre of scrutiny for the last few months, beginning with their set at Coachella, where their comments in support of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East – including projecting messages like 'fuck Israel, free Palestine' onto the screens behind them, and leading the crowd in a chant of 'free Palestine' – ruffled some feathers.
Just days after this, it was reported that counter-terrorism officers were looking into a resurfaced video that had been recorded at a gig in London five months earlier, during which the group reportedly declared 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'.
It was subsequently confirmed that band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known to Kneecap fans as his musical persona Mo Chara – had been charged with a terror offence over this clip, for which he made his first appearance in court last week.
Kneecap responded to the news of Ó hAnnaidh's charge with a group statement which said: 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is.'
The band had previously claimed they were being made the subject of a smear campaign, and insisted: '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.'
Since then, Starmer said it was not 'appropriate' for Glastonbury to keep Kneecap on its line-up, to which they responded: 'You know what's 'not appropriate' Keir?! Arming a fucking genocide.'
Earlier this week, there was further outcry when it was suggested that the BBC would not be broadcasting Kneecap's set live despite the mass interest surrounding it.
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