UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday said it was not “appropriate” for Irish group Kneecap to perform at Glastonbury, one of the country’s biggest and most famous music festivals.
Asked in an interview by The Sun tabloid whether the Irish rap trio should perform at the iconic festival next week, Starmer responded: “No, I don’t, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this.
“This is about the threats that shouldn’t be made. I won’t say too much because there’s a court case on, but I don’t think that’s appropriate,” he added.
Kneecap has made headlines with their outspoken pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance, with one of their members charged with a “terror” offence for allegedly supporting Hezbollah.
Last Wednesday, Liam O’Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, appeared in court accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag while saying “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” at a concert that took place in London last year.
The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK, and it is an offence to show support for them.
Glastonbury festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of music fans from around the world, is set to take place in at Worthy Farm in southeast England next week starting June 25.
Kneecap is due to perform on Saturday June 28 on the West Holts Stage.
The government had previously called on the organisers of Glastonbury festival to “think carefully” about the band’s planned appearance there.
The group has been pulled from a slew of summer gigs since, including a Scottish festival appearance and various performances in Germany.
During their performances, rapping in Irish and English, Kneecap often lead chants of “Free, free Palestine” and display the Palestinian flag.
The group apologised this year after a 2023 video emerged appearing to show one singer calling for the death of British Conservative MPs.
But they deny the terrorism charge and say the video featuring the flag has been taken out of context.
O’Hanna, Liam Og O Hannaidh in Gaelic, who has been granted unconditional bail, told London’s Wide Awake Festival in May the charge was an attempt to “silence us”.
The group, which shot to fame with their biting, provocative song lyrics and an award-winning docu-fiction based on them, slammed it as “political policing” and “a carnival of distraction”.
