Johnny Marr voiced his support for Kneecap ahead of their upcoming performance at Glastonbury, which comes as the Belfast hip-hop trio has faced waves of criticism for their support of Palestine.
“I’ve played Glastonbury many times and the festival has always had a political aspect,” the former Smiths guitarist said. “It was founded as a place of free expression and political activism and it’s a fact that I agreed to play there with the Smiths in 1984 purely because to do so at the time was a political act.”
He continued: “Oppression fears artistic expression. I respect all musicians who use their platform to speak out against injustice, who promote compassion and equality and give voice to the voiceless. I stand with my audience and fellow musicians who call for an immediate end to the atrocities and a free Palestine.”
Marr said he felt compelled to share his statement after “learning that calls have been made for Kneecap to be censored during their Glastonbury set.”
Kneecap have claimed to be the target of a “smear campaign” ever since their performance at Coachella in April, where the group broadcast a message onstage that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” and, “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.”
In the aftermath, Kneecap faced a wide array of criticism (including remarks from Sharon Osbourne and Johnny Rotten), and MC Mo Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) was even charged with a terror offense for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag and yelling “up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” as well as, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory,” at a London concert in 2024. (Ó hAnnaidh is expected to appear in court on June 18.)
Kneecap denied the latter allegation, claiming video of the incident was “deliberately taken out of all context.” At a festival gig in London not long after the charge was brought, Ó hAnnaidh told the crowd that he believed the charge against him was accelerated “because Glastonbury is just around the corner,” adding, “They’re trying to silence us from speaking on stage at Glastonbury the way we did at Coachella. That’s a fact.”
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Several U.K. politicians have called for Kneecap to be removed from future festival lineups, including Glastonbury and TRNSMT in Glasgow, Scotland. (Kneecap were booted from the latter festival “due to concerns expressed by the police about safety at the event.”) And just last week, DJ/producer Toddla T, who worked with Kneecap on their 2024 album, Fine Art, claimed that a cohort of music industry players, led by “a very systemically powerful music agent,” had contacted Glastonbury “urging them to remove Kneecap from the lineup.”
As it stands, Kneecap is still scheduled to perform June 28 on the West Holts Stage. The BBC has also previously said that it will not remove Kneecap from its coverage of Glastonbury.
