Rap trio Kneecap has offered condolences to the MPs’ families. Following Downing Street and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s condemnation of the band’s performance at a concert that appeared to show one Kneecap member urging support for the killing of MPs, the band offered condolences to Sir David Amess and Jo Cox’s families.
The band member said, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory,”’ the video from the November 2023 concert. Your neighborhood politician should be dead.
The footage, along with a video clip from a different concert in November 2024, in which a band member appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” are being examined by counter-terrorism police in London. Both events are prohibited as terrorist organizations in the UK.
Kneecap claimed it was the subject of a smear campaign in a statement apologizing to the Cox and Amess families.
Conservative Sir David was shot and killed in 2021, while Labour MP Ms. Cox was shot and killed in 2016.
After the footage was released, Katie, Sir David’s daughter, criticised the band.
The Belfast group, which includes Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain, and JJ O Dochartaigh, “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual,” they said in a statement posted on X.
They claimed that the video was being “exploited and weaponized” and had been purposefully omitted from context.
After speaking out about the Gaza conflict, the band has claimed that it is being targeted by a coordinated smear campaign.
Kneecap rebuffed all attacks on civilians and claimed to have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah.
We express our sincere condolences to the families of Amess and Cox, saying that they never intended to hurt you.
The message of Keecap has always been and continues to be one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music has attracted hundreds of thousands of fans at our shows and continues to resonate with people of all ages, cultures, and classes. That won’t change with a smear campaign.
The Prime Minister criticized the recent remarks made by the band in the video in “completely unacceptable” terms on Monday, according to Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman.
Mrs. Badenoch remarked that Kneecap’s “anti-British hatred has no place in our society” and that it is “good” that the police are looking into the allegations, adding that “Kneecap’s glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society.”
She continued, “This requires prosecution,” adding that “after the murder of Sir David Amess.”
While working as business secretary, Mrs. Badenoch halted the government’s grant to the bilingual Belfast organization.
However, after the UK government acknowledged it was “unlawful,” Kneecap won a discrimination lawsuit in November of last year.
There would be no more public funds going to Kneecap, according to Downing Street.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said, “I don’t believe organizations like that should be receiving taxpayers’ money.”
Meanwhile, Labour MP David Taylor has written to the Glastonbury Festival organizers to request that Kneecap be dropped from the lineup this year.
Kneecap’s recent performance at the prestigious music festival Coachella, which took place in California, also received criticism in the US.
Kneecap displayed signs at Coachella that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” “It is being supported by the US government, who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes,” and “F*** Israel.” Palestine that is free.
The band addressed the string of controversy in a lengthy statement, saying, “They want you to believe that words are more harmful than genocide.”
Establishment figures have sifted through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews to extract a few words from months or years ago to create moral hysteria.
We never support Hamas or Hezbollah, and let us be clear: we do not and never have. Always, we condemn all acts of violence against civilians. Never is that okay. Given the history of our country, we are more aware of this than anyone else. Additionally, we object to any suggestion that we would try to stoke violence against any elected official or politician. ever .
“An extract of footage is now being exploited and weaponized, as if it were a call to action,” according to the statement. This distortion is a clear attempt to derail the real conversation, not just absurd.
“Israel is currently starving every two million Palestinians in Gaza. In Gaza, at least 20, 000 children have died. Even after Keir Starmer was notified in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head, the British government continues to provide arms to Israel.
The powerful in Britain have encouraged slaughter and famine rather than defending innocent people or international law principles. Real rage and outrage should be directed at this.
The statement continued, “Suddenly, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation from the political classes of Britain, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity.” Our performances do not reflect the real crimes; instead, those responsible for them are whispering and complicit. Shame on them.
Apparently, footage from the November 2024 concert at London’s Kentish Town Forum and the November 2023 concert is being evaluated by counter-terrorism authorities.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Sunday that a video from April 22 that is thought to have occurred in a November 2024 incident had been sent to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit to be evaluated and to see if any further police inquiries are necessary.
Another video that is thought to have been filmed at an event in November 2023 has also been made public.
He added that the police are “evaluating both to see if further police investigation is required.”
The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command has a counter-terrorism internet referral unit (CTIRU), which is tasked with locating terrorist and extremist material online.
If the content infringes upon the law, police will launch an investigation.
