The Kneecap row makes our cultural elite look like brazen hypocrites

Telegraph

03-05-2025

Poor Kneecap. The pro-Republican Belfast rap trio have had such a rotten week. And all because of two tiny little pieces of concert footage. In one, a member of the group appears to declare: 'The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP!' And in the other, a member of the group appears to shout: 'Up Hamas, up Hezbollah!'
Although Kneecap insist that they've 'never' supported those two proscribed terrorist organisations, say they 'reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP', and claim that the footage has been 'taken out of all context', it seems not everyone's convinced. They've been dropped from a music festival in Cornwall, and seen several gigs cancelled in Germany.
Thankfully for them, however, they've now had some good news. More than 100 of Britain's leading pop stars – including Paul Weller, Brian Eno, Thin Lizzy and Primal Scream – have signed an open letter, stoutly defending Kneecap's 'artistic freedom of expression'.
'This past week has seen a clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform the band Kneecap,' proclaim these brave and principled musicians. '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.'
These sentiments are of course wonderfully noble. I wonder, however, if I might ask these courageous artists to consider the following hypothetical scenario.
Imagine there were a rap trio that loudly supported causes that were unmistakably Right-wing, rather than Left-wing. And now imagine that, in a piece of concert footage, a member of this trio appeared to declare, 'The only good Leftie is a dead Leftie. Kill your local Labour MP!' And that, in another piece of concert footage, a member appeared to shout, 'Up the KKK!'
In response, would these same 100-plus pop stars rush to sign an open letter, stoutly defending the Right-wing trio's 'artistic freedom of expression'? Would they say that 'the question of agreeing with' the Right-wing trio's 'political views' was 'irrelevant'? And would they dismiss criticism of the Right-wing trio as an 'interference campaign' that must be 'condemned and ridiculed'? Indeed, would they do all this even before the Met's counter-terrorism officers had finished investigating the footage?
I wonder. But, since we're on the subject, I can't help remembering that, in 2023, the singer Roisin Murphy saw two of her concerts cancelled after she argued that puberty blockers should not be given to children who are confused about their gender identity. I don't seem to recall many open letters from celebrities leaping to her defence. Or many open letters in defence of another singer, Louise Distras, when, that same year, she said that she'd been dropped by her booking agent for refusing to agree that 'trans women are women'.
Of course, pop stars are very busy people, so it probably isn't possible for them to sign an open letter every time a fellow artist's free expression is under threat. Thank goodness they've at least managed to find the time on this occasion, when the artist just happens to be anti-Tory, anti-Israel, and Left-wing.
Will Starmer make every child learn about the grooming gangs?
For a good two months, Adolescence – the Netflix drama about a boy who stabs a girl to death after watching sexist videos online – appeared to drive our liberal elite absolutely potty. Indeed, their hysteria rose to such a frenzied pitch that, at one point, two scandalised BBC interviewers asked Kemi Badenoch why on earth she hadn't watched it yet.
Given that they were referring to a piece of TV fiction, their indignation was extraordinary. I'm fairly sure that, in the 1990s, there were no editions of Newsnight in which Jeremy Paxman barked, 'Secretary of State, I'll ask you once again. Have you, or have you not, watched last night's Brookside yet?'
'Jeremy, I'm afraid I—'
'It's a simple yes or no question.'
'But I just don't see why—'
'Secretary of State, Brookside is regularly watched by as many as seven million British people. Are you really telling us that you're so out of touch, you don't know that Julia (Gladys Ambrose) was pipped at the post for the job in the flower shop, while Peter (Robert Black) had to rescue Anna (Kazia Pelka) from a tricky situation?'
Still, it wasn't just BBC types who were obsessed with Adolescence. Sir Keir Starmer was, too. He even said it should be shown in every school.
Since the PM is so anxious for pupils to learn about vital issues of national debate, I wonder whether he's seen a new programme aired this week by Channel 4. Groomed is a documentary about the grooming gangs scandal. And unlike Adolescence, which is about fictional events, Groomed is about events that are all too horrifically real.
I'll be impressed, therefore, if Sir Keir announces that Groomed is to be shown in every school. I suspect, however, that he won't, bearing in mind his deep reluctance to hold a full national inquiry into its subject matter. Frankly, we're more likely to get a full national inquiry into why Kemi Badenoch hasn't watched Adolescence.