Politicians have called for Kneecap to be removed from Glastonbury and TRNSMT‘s 2025 line-ups following a recent counter-terrorism investigation.
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Calls for the Irish trio to be removed from upcoming festival dates come after it was revealed earlier this week that counter-terror police are assessing footage from a show that appears to show a band member shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”, while also displaying a Hezbollah flag.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are proscribed terror organisations, as listed by the UK government – it is also an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 to “invite support for a proscribed organisation”. It was later revealed police are assessing a second video from one of their gigs, which purportedly shows the group calling for the death of Conservative MPs.
As reported by Sky News, the footage is thought to come from a show from November 2023 where one of the West Belfast trio allegedly said to the crowd: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
In the past 10 years, two British MPs have been murdered: Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative David Amess in 2021.
The footage that has emerged from a Kneecap concert clearly crosses the line from political expression to inciting violence.
It is completely unacceptable and we unequivocally condemn it. pic.twitter.com/f8Ruo2ykFe
— The Jo Cox Foundation (@JoCoxFoundation) April 28, 2025
The Jo Cox Foundation – the charity formed after Cox was tragically killed in her constituency – today shared a statement on X/Twitter condemning the band, writing that they had “clearly” crossed a line “from political expression to inciting violence”.
Similarly, the daughter of Conservative MP Amess has told the BBC she was “gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric”, adding that the band should make apologies to her “and every other person that has been offended by this”.
Politicians have also begun to put pressure on festival organisers ahead of Kneecap’s summer dates, which include sets at Wide Awake Festival, 2000 Trees, TRNSMT and Glastonbury.
Today (April 28), Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead David Taylor shared a letter addressed to Michael Eavis, requesting the Worthy Farm festival remove them from the line-up. He wrote that if current reports were accurate, the band’s “actions and statements go beyond the realm of legitimate political expression and into the dangerous territory of inciting violence and promoting extremism, as well as severe antisemitism”.
He continued to say it would be “deeply troubling” to see the festival platform a group he claimed “advocate hatred and violence, especially at a time when political and social tensions are already high”.
I’ve written to @glastonbury urging them to remove Kneecap based on their alleged behaviour and the widely reported footage.
Allegedly calling for the murder of colleagues is abhorrent, I stand in solidarity with MPs from across the House.
Violence has no place in politics. pic.twitter.com/Zn4MhHeTUA
— David Taylor MP (@DavidTaylor85) April 28, 2025
Likewise, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has called for Kneecap to be removed from the line-up of Glasgow’s TRNSMT.
Speaking at the Scottish Trades Union Congress, the SNP leader was asked whether the rap trio should perform at the music festival as planned, and later told media (via The National): “The language that you have put to me is completely and utterly unacceptable. There is no way that is acceptable. It’s beyond the pale.
“I think it makes it incredibly difficult for a band like Kneecap to perform at TRNSMT, because I think they have crossed a line. It would be unacceptable to me for the band to perform on such a stage.”
NME has reached out to TRNSMT and Glastonbury organisers for comment.
In response to news of the counter-terrorism investigation, Kneecap shared a post on X of a graphic which read, “18 Months Of Genocide Footage Not Under Investigation By UK Counter-Terror Police”, with the caption “some facts.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch also addressed the news, sharing the footage and telling her followers on X: “In government I blocked Kneecap getting taxpayer funding. Labour didn’t contest the legal case the band brought and they walked away with £14,250 of OUR money. Perhaps now Labour see Kneecap openly glorifying evil terror groups, they will apologise for rolling over. But I doubt it.”
An anti-Tory sentiment also emerged in their controversial sets at Coachella this month, the first of which saw them leading the crowd in a chant of “Maggie’s in a box”, referring to the late Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The Coachella performances led to calls from Sharon Osbourne to revoke their working visas. The two sets at the festival also reportedly left organisers “blindsided” due to their overtly political nature, including showing pro-Palestine projections on the screen behind them and encouraging the audience to chant “Free, Free Palestine”.
KNEECAP STATEMENT:
Since our statements at Coachella — exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people — we have faced a coordinated smear campaign.
For over a year, we have used our shows to call out the British and Irish governments’ complicity in war crimes.… pic.twitter.com/mBojb5QBOP
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 25, 2025
Kneecap have since called the controversy “a coordinated smear campaign” against their efforts in “exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people”.
“For over a year, we have used our shows to call out the British and Irish governments’ complicity in war crimes. The recent attacks against us, largely emanating from the US, are based on deliberate distortions and falsehoods,” they said, adding that they are “taking action against several of these malicious efforts”.
“The reason Kneecap is being targeted is simple — we are telling the truth, and our audience is growing,” the statement read. “Those attacking us want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter. They weaponize false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide,” bringing up “massive numbers of Jewish people” who are “outraged by this genocide just as we are”.
“What we care about is that governments of the countries we perform in are enabling some of the most horrific crimes of our lifetimes — and we will not stay silent. No media spin will change this,” they wrote.
“Our only concern is the Palestinian people — the 20,000 murdered children and counting.”
They praised the audiences at their shows, saying that they “see through the lies” and “stand on the side of humanity and justice,” concluding: “And that gives us hope.”