Following a controversial Coachella set, Irish hip hop group KNEECAP have come under fire due to their support of Palestine and their anti-zionist rhetoric.
Members of the UK Government have pushed to punish the band by urging music festivals to drop them, and now Scotland Yard is investigating them for allegedly promoting terrorism. The band was recently dropped from their US booking company, Independent Artist Group. As a result, their visa sponsorships have been pulled, making international touring more difficult. The band have yet to comment on the status of their upcoming North America tour.
Now, acclaimed English trip hop group Massive Attack have issued their support for KNEECAP, highlighting the UK Government's hypocrisy in going after the Irish group while ignoring "the murder of fifteen voluntary aid workers in Gaza, or the illegal starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, or the killing of thousands & thousands of children in the same territory..."
Rather than focus the narrative on KNEECAP, they believe that the real story at hand is about Gaza and the ongoing genocide. Massive Attack have long spoken out against "the illegal occupation, apartheid system and killing with impunity of thousands of Palestinians," and are well aware that this support may come with social, political, and financial repercussions.
Their full statement:
Massive Attack 👏👏👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/6QychuRmwv
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 30, 2025
Other artists, including Pulp, IDLES, and Fontaines D.C., have signed an open letter from Heavenly Recordings to defend KNEECAP's "freedom of expression".
The full letter:
This past week has seen a clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform the band Kneecap. In Westminster and the British media, senior political figures have been openly engaged in a campaign to remove Kneecap from the public eye, with veiled threats being made over their scheduled performances at gigs, outdoor events and music festivals, including Glastonbury. Chillingly, it is also clear to us that influential figures and personalities within the wider music industry are attempting to influence this campaign of intimidation. As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom. In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people. The question of agreeing with Kneecap’s political views is irrelevant: it is in the key interests of every artist that all creative expression be protected in a society that values culture, and that this interference campaign is condemned and ridiculed. Furthermore, it also the duty of key leadership figures in the music industry to actively defend artistic freedom of expression – rather than seek to silence views which oppose their own.
An updated list of all the signees:
More and more every hour stand behind Kneecap 💚🤍🧡❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/armFYCfpCl
— Daniel Lambert (@dlLambo) May 1, 2025
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