Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called for Kneecap to be prosecuted after video footage emerged of a 2023 gig in which one of the rap group’s members stated, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory - kill your local MP”.
Police are already investigating footage of a 2024 Kneecap show where the group shouted “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”, in doing so publicly supporting organisations that are defined as “proscribed international terrorist groups” by the UK government.
The group’s past controversial statements are back in the spotlight following their performances at this year’s Coachella festival, during which they projected strongly pro-Palestine and anti-Israel content onto screens.
It has transpired that those performances prompted Kneecap’s North American booking agents to part company with the group, which - along with the mounting controversies regarding on-stage statements at past shows - could impact on their ability to get visas to perform in the US.
With some critics now calling on other festivals - including Scotland’s TRNSMT - to drop Kneecap from their bills, the group say they have become the victims of a “coordinated smear campaign”.
The “recent attacks against us”, they say in an Instagram post, are “largely emanating from the US” and are “based on deliberate distortions and falsehoods”. For over a year, they add, “we have used our shows to call out the British and Irish governments’ complicity in war crimes”.
The “kill your local MP” comment made at a 2023 Kneecap show - although made in the context of opposition to the Conservative Party - has also been strongly criticised by the current Labour government, with a Downing Street spokesperson calling the group’s remark “completely unacceptable”.
While an off-the-cuff remark made by a creatively contentious rap group in the middle of a gig is not exactly a formal call to action, critics have pointed out that the remark is particularly concerning given that two serving British MPs have been murdered in the last decade, Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative MP David Amess in 2021.
Amess’s daughter Katie is among those to have commented following media reports of the video of the 2023 Kneecap show. She told the BBC that she was “gobsmacked at the stupidity” of somebody in the public eye employing “such dangerous, violent rhetoric”, adding, “it is just beyond belief that human beings would speak like that in this day and age - it is extremely dangerous”.
Badenoch previously had a run in with Kneecap when she was Business Secretary in the last Conservative government and she blocked the group from receiving a grant via the government-funded Music Export Growth Scheme. That was mainly in response to the group publicly calling for a united Ireland.
The group successfully overturned that intervention by taking the matter to court. The intervention was ultimately deemed unlawful, including by the new Labour government. However, having seen the footage of the “kill your local MP” remark, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer now says, “We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding”.
In a new statement, Badenoch also references Kneecap’s on-stage support of Hamas and Hezbollah. She says, “Kneecap's glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society. Now footage shows one of them saying: ‘The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP’. After the murder of Sir David Amess, this demands prosecution”.
Kneecap using their platform - including their Coachella performances - to speak out in support of the Palestinians has won the group lots of support of course, as well as lots of criticism. Though even some of the supporters would be keen for the group to carefully distinguish between supporting Palestinians and supporting groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
The on-stage support for those groups has also prompted criticism from politicians in the Republic Of Ireland. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has called on the group to “urgently clarify” their position, stating, “have they, or do they, support Hamas and Hezbollah? Because that would be unacceptable”.
In the UK, because Hamas and Hezbollah are formally proscribed as international terrorist groups, publicly supporting either group can result in a prosecution under the Terrorism Act 2000. Government guidance on that act says it is a criminal offence to “invite support for a proscribed organisation” or “express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation”.
The on-stage support for Hamas and Hezbollah could also impact on whether or not Kneecap run into visa issues when seeking to tour the US. Sharon Osbourne led the charge last week in calling on the US government to revoke the group’s visas following their Coachella sets.
There have been general concerns in the music community that activist artists could be refused entry into the US based on past statements under the Donald Trump administration. That could include simple criticism of Trump and his policies. Though politically speaking, it’s going to be easier for officials to block artist visa applications where past statements seem to express support for criminals and terrorists.
Indeed, US Deputy Secretary Of State Christopher Landau recently said - in the context of denying musicians entry into the country - that, while he was a “firm believer in freedom of expression … the last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists”.
Kneecap are already likely facing administrative problems regarding their US visas after booking agency Independent Artist Group parted company with the group following the Coachella performances.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, IAG actually ended its relationship with the group after their performance at the first weekend of the festival, so before the second weekend performance that included the on-screen pro-Palestine and anti-Israel content that became such a major news story.
We knew that their first performance also featured the customary political statements. It seems that that included pro-Palestine statements, but those were edited out of the Coachella livestream, much to the annoyance of the group.
It’s common for US booking agents to act as a sponsor for foreign artists seeking a visa to perform in the country, and sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that that was the case with IAG and Kneecap, but no longer.
While there are obviously plenty of other agents Kneecap could work with in the US, some may refuse to deal with the group based on their political viewpoints. And others who are neutral on the politics may nevertheless wonder if it’s a business partnership worth having, given the ongoing controversies on both sides of the Atlantic.