Starmer claims Kneecap Glastonbury set 'not appropriate'
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed he does not think Belfast rap trio Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is "appropriate".
He made the comments after Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in November last year.
In an interview with The Sun, Mr Starmer was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: "No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this.
"This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate."
It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed she thought the BBC "should not be showing" Kneecap's performance at the festival next week.
Ms Badenoch said in the X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: "The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda.
"One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act.
"As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism."
The Tory Leader has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister.
After the case, the band split the money between two community groups - one on either side of the Belfast peace line.
Watch: Kneecap's Mo Chara tells Dublin crowd 'I'm a free man!'
Kneecap took aim at Ms Badenoch in their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headline set at London's Wide Awake festival in May.
The song mocked her attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss.
On Wednesday, Mr Ó hAnnaidh was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin, whose stage name is Móglaí Bap, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, whose stage name is DJ Próvaí, at Westminster Magistrates' Court in "Free Mo Chara" T-shirts.
Speaking to RTÉ News before their gig in Dublin on Thursday, DJ Próvaí said that there was "great support there from 1,000 people" and that fans had gathered because "they know we're going to win".
During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is "well within his rights" to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a "wholly different thing".
Mr Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on 20 August.
Following the hearing, the rapper said: "For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday.
"If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September.
"But most importantly: free, free Palestine."
The charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs.
In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been "exploited and weaponised".
In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: "14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us.
"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, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective?
"To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out.
"Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification.
"The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it."
Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and their merchandise.
Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.
A BBC spokesperson said: "As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘Unconditional bail never felt so good': Barry Egan watches Kneecap celebrate freedom with hip-hop hymns for the Dublin faithful
There is only one band in the world with titles like that. And yet, on a long hot summer night, the atmosphere at Kneecap's sold-out show in Fairview Park on Thursday was as friendly and inclusive as any Westlife concert. There were kids with their shirts off playing basketball on the court outside the venue, as if they were in Brooklyn. Inside, fans were eating hipster burgers and chips or drinking pints of beer in the sunshine. But there were plenty of political statements around too. Many fans wore tricolour balaclavas and Ireland football jerseys or had Palestinian flags draped over their shoulders. One young man had a flag with the slogan 'From the river to the sea' on it. Another had a T-shirt with 'England get out of Ireland'. People were taking selfies beside a vehicle mocked up as a PSNI armoured Land Rover. On the wall beside it was the wording: 'More Blacks. More Dogs. More Irish. Mo Chara.' The most popular T-shirt of the night had the words 'Free Mo Chara' on it. At 8.50pm, the man the T-shirts were referring to bounded on stage to deafening applause and said: 'I'm a free man.' The 8,000-plus fans at the sold-out show were bouncing about inside the giant tent so vigorously that you could probably feel the vibrations all the way to Westminster Magistrates' Court, where last Wednesday the 27-year-old rapper (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) was granted unconditional bail after being charged with a terrorist charge. He is accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London gig last November. 'Unconditional bail never felt so good. I'm going to make the best of it,' he said. The crowd cheered and waved their Palestinian flags He was true to his word as he raced around the stage like a nationalist Mick Jagger in a shiny tracksuit. He was flanked by fellow rapper Móglaí Bap, with DJ Próvaí in his Tricolour balaclava behind them at the DJ console supplying the beats and some raps himself. Before they took to the stage there was a video screen with messages about Israeli genocide in Gaza, the 60,000 Gazans killed and the Irish Government allowing the US military to use Irish airports. ADVERTISEMENT The crowd cheered and waved their Palestinian flags and the show began with It's Been Ages — and Móglaí Bap showing off his bilingual lyrical dexterity: 'Oh it's been ages/since we made the front pages/Sin deireadh linn ár hiatus/Back to annoy c**ts that hate us.' The feel-good hip-hop had everyone under the big tent dancing like they were having the time of their lives. The feeling was reciprocated by the energetic three men in tracksuits and runners on stage. Next up was Fenian C**ts. Once you get past the title, it's a hip-hop hymn to the beauty of Protestants and Catholics in the North... ahem, getting it on. It had 8,000 people dancing and singing along to the tale of a latter-day Romeo and Juliet in Belfast, with an unhappy ending. Móglaí Bap raps about hooking up with a young woman who's as beautiful, he says, as the mythical Niamh Cinn Óir, the golden-haired lover of Oisín, son of Fionn MacCumhail. It might sound overblown, but it's fun. As pop critic Miranda Sawyer wrote last year: 'Like Eminem, Kneecap's humour is the key to their success.' Another song, the club-friendly banger Parful, is about young Catholics and Protestants dancing with each other in the North's clubs on a Saturday night. As Mo Chara rapped in Fairview: 'These young people have lived their entire lives in a society poisoned by sectarian hatred/Rave brings Protestants and Catholics together…' On Rhino Ket, they sing about the effects of coming home after a night on the tiles in their beloved Belfast, taking the drugs of the song title. 'Can't sit, can't think, can barely even walk,' raps Mo Chara. 'Dunno how the f**k we'll make it back to the Falls,' answers Móglaí Bap. We don't discriminate in who we piss off On another song about the joys of drugs, Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite, Mo Chara raps: 'I swear I haven't got any gear Mr Garda.' I was curious about the reaction to that one from any members of An Garda Síochána present at the concert. I spent a memorable few hours with the group at a hotel in Newry in 2021. On that occasion, they arrived late because their car broke down on the way from Belfast. When they walked in, a little sheepishly, Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap from West Belfast and DJ Próvaí from Creggan in Derry ordered flat whites, cappuccinos, herbal teas. Their only rock'n'roll behaviour was when DJ Próvaí, who wears a tricolour balaclava when he performs onstage, reached into his trousers, took his trademark headgear out of his underpants and threw it to me. (I still have it.) The Guardian recently described Kneecap as being post-Good Friday Agreement bad boys, taking out every old authority figure without fear. They quoted them saying: 'We don't discriminate in who we piss off.' And on Thursday night in Fairview, it would appear so. The Recap, their new single, is released tomorrow (though a bootleg version has been doing the rounds on SoundCloud for a while now) and it was one of the standout songs of the night. The track was inspired by UK Tory Party leader Kemi Badenoch. Lest we forget, Kneecap won a court case last November against Badenoch after she had blocked an arts grant being awarded to the band, citing their politics as being anti-British. For two hours on Thursday, Kneecap were a blur of energy as they dared and prodded the audience to keep up with their exuberance — it's powerful, innovative, exciting and fun music. They sliced and diced their lyrics between English and Irish in their songs and the crowd lapped up every word. In short, it was a great show, all 17 songs of it. Yes, they're gobby, and yes, they're controversial. And yes, you probably won't like all — or any — of their songs, which are deliberately provocative. But as they say themselves, they are simply holding up a mirror to society. I think there is a huge sense of pride in Ireland for what Kneecap stand for The biggest cheer of the night came after they shuffled off and then returned to encore with Get Your Brits Out and Hood. The latter is about... well, as Mo Chara raps 'Low-life scum — that's what they say about me', while the former is about a made-up drug-fuelled night on the town with the grandees of the Democratic Unionist Party. They rap, with 8,000 people joining in: 'Arlene's throwing shapes/half a yoke nearly killed her/Jeffrey Donaldson's lost all his filters.' After the show, I spoke to Kneecap's manager, Daniel Lambert, who is also chief operating officer of Bohemians Football Club. 'It was a phenomenal night,' he said. 'The atmosphere was unbelievable. I have never felt noise like it coming off a stage. I think there is a huge sense of pride in Ireland for what Kneecap stand for — and that they are going around the world and bringing such a positive portrayal of Ireland. 'Kneecap deliver such positive messages. I think that they're a really important act at the moment — and we should also remember what Fontaines DC are doing, what the Mary Wallopers are doing, what Lankum are doing, what CMAT is doing, what Gurriers are doing, what Murder Capital are doing. 'What they're all doing around the world is great — going out there and bringing amazing music to people, but also a message of solidarity and empathy with Palestine, which is so important right now. 'I think Kneecap can forever hold their heads up high and know they've done — and are doing — something really special. I am really proud of them.'
RTÉ News
6 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Starmer claims Kneecap Glastonbury set 'not appropriate'
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed he does not think Belfast rap trio Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is "appropriate". He made the comments after Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a gig in November last year. In an interview with The Sun, Mr Starmer was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: "No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this. "This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate." It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed she thought the BBC "should not be showing" Kneecap's performance at the festival next week. Ms Badenoch said in the X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: "The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. "One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. "As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism." The Tory Leader has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. After the case, the band split the money between two community groups - one on either side of the Belfast peace line. Watch: Kneecap's Mo Chara tells Dublin crowd 'I'm a free man!' Kneecap took aim at Ms Badenoch in their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headline set at London's Wide Awake festival in May. The song mocked her attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. On Wednesday, Mr Ó hAnnaidh was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin, whose stage name is Móglaí Bap, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, whose stage name is DJ Próvaí, at Westminster Magistrates' Court in "Free Mo Chara" T-shirts. Speaking to RTÉ News before their gig in Dublin on Thursday, DJ Próvaí said that there was "great support there from 1,000 people" and that fans had gathered because "they know we're going to win". During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is "well within his rights" to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a "wholly different thing". Mr Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on 20 August. Following the hearing, the rapper said: "For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday. "If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September. "But most importantly: free, free Palestine." The charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs. In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been "exploited and weaponised". In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: "14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. "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, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? "To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. "Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. "The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it." Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and their merchandise. Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag. A BBC spokesperson said: "As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
Irish Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kneecap Glastonbury slot 'not appropriate', says British PM Keir Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he does not think Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is "appropriate". He made the comments after Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah while saying "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" at a gig in November last year. In an interview with The Sun, Mr Starmer was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: "No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this. "This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate." It comes after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she thought the BBC "should not be showing" Kneecap's performance at the festival next week. Mrs Badenoch said in the X post, which was accompanied by an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: "The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda. "One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act. As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism." The Tory Leader of the Opposition has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. Kneecap took aim at Mrs Badenoch in their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headline set at London's Wide Awake festival in May, with the song mocking the politician's attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. On Wednesday, O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in "Free Mo Chara" T-shirts. During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is "well within his rights" to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a "wholly different thing". O hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20. Following the hearing, the rapper said: "For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday. "If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September. "But most importantly: free, free Palestine." The charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs. In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been "exploited and weaponised". In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: "14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. "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, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? "To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. "Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. "The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it." Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and their merchandise. Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag. A BBC spokesperson said: "As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers. "Whilst the BBC doesn't ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines. Decisions about our output will be made in the lead-up to the festival."
