Three weeks ago, Kneecap were revelling in the acclaim of tens of thousands of adoring fans at one of the world’s most famous music festivals.
With one band member wearing his trademark Irish tricolour balaclava, the West Belfast hip-hop trio entertained the crowd at Coachella – a more glitzy US version of Glastonbury – in their own inimitable style.
Rapper Mo Chara told the cheering audience: ‘If anybody was wondering, Margaret Thatcher’s still dead,’ before leading them in a celebratory singalong of ‘Maggie’s in a box’ to the tune of Give It Up by KC and the Sunshine Band.
He followed this rendition with a speech denouncing what he described as the continued ‘British occupation’ of Ireland and the ‘worse occupation’ in Palestine.
As the crowd went wild, he concluded with the Republican slogan that was frequently used by IRA terrorists: ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá’, meaning ‘Our day will come’.
It capped a remarkable two years for Kneecap, who have reaped extraordinary rewards from what critics claim is an act based on glorifying terrorism and stoking sectarianism.
The band has been accused of repeatedly using IRA paraphernalia – including promoting themselves using images of petrol bombs burning politicians – to make violent republicanism appear cool to a generation lucky enough to be born after the horrific slaughter of the Troubles.
This ‘terrorist chic’ took the trio from being virtual unknowns outside of Northern Ireland to global sensations who starred in a hit film based on their lives.
Kneecap have reaped extraordinary rewards from what critics claim is an act based on glorifying terrorism and stoking sectarianism
The band has been accused of repeatedly using IRA paraphernalia – including promoting themselves using images of petrol bombs burning politicians – to make violent republicanism appear cool to a generation lucky enough to be born after the horrific slaughter of the Troubles
This ‘terrorist chic’ took the trio from being virtual unknowns outside of Northern Ireland to global sensations who starred in a hit film based on their lives (Pictured with Gerry Adams)
The Mail has been investigating Kneecap since January 2024 and has discovered a deeply disturbing cache of social media posts and comments by the band alluding to terror attacks as ‘resistance’, welcoming growing support among the young for the IRA and glorifying violence in their music.
Astonishingly, while this was going on, we also found the group and its film were bankrolled with £1.6million of public money and feted by the BBC. The irony is that it was their amped-up performance at Coachella which alerted the wider world to the brutal reality of Kneecap’s repellent attitudes.
In the course of just a few days, the group – named after the paramilitary punishment of shooting someone in the knee – have been dropped by their US sponsor and booking agent, had a series of high-profile gigs cancelled and been condemned by UK politicians from all parties.
Most dramatically, counter-terrorism officers have launched an investigation into videos allegedly showing them inciting support for terror groups during gigs.
The fall from grace began when, furious that their crass political posturing during their first set at Coachella had been cut from the live stream of the performance, they performed their set at the second weekend of the festival against the backdrop of a slogan declaring ‘F*** Israel, Free Palestine’ projected on to the wall behind them.
Days later, footage emerged from a Kneecap gig last year in which one member appears to shout ‘Up Hamas, up Hezbollah’, while draped in the latter terror group’s flag. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are proscribed organisations in the UK.
They face more Scotland Yard scrutiny over footage unearthed by the Mail from a gig in November 2023 which appears to show one member of the group saying: ‘The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.’
Facing an unprecedented backlash, Kneecap finally apologised to the bereaved relatives of murdered politicians Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, who had joined the chorus of condemnation.
The fall from grace began when, furious that their crass political posturing during their first set at Coachella had been cut from the live stream of the performance, they performed their set at the second weekend of the festival against the backdrop of a slogan declaring ‘F*** Israel, Free Palestine’ projected on to the wall behind them
They face more Scotland Yard scrutiny over footage unearthed by the Mail from a gig in November 2023 which appears to show one member of the group saying: ‘The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP’
The band also denied ever having supported Hamas or Hezbollah and said it condemned all attacks on civilians. In the same statement, however, Kneecap claimed that they were the victims of a ‘smear campaign’ orchestrated by the British ‘Establishment’.
They were supported this week by dozens of music artists – including Pulp, Paul Weller, the Pogues and Primal Scream, as well as BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac – who signed an open letter issued by the group’s record label, Heavenly Recordings, saying there had been ‘a clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately de-platform’ Kneecap.
‘As artists, we feel the need to recognise our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom,’ they added.
For its part, Kneecap insisted the band’s message ‘has always been – and remains – one of love, inclusion and hope’.
Little evidence of this purported approach is found in the band’s history, however. Kneecap were formed in 2017 by rappers Mo Chara, real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 26; Móglaí Bap, real name Naoise Ó Cairealláin, 30; and DJ Próvaí, real name JJ Ó Dochartaigh, who is 34.
Their ages mean they were all born around the time of the 1994 IRA ceasefire and 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ushered in a period of relative peace.
Previous generations had lived through the Troubles, during which 3,600 people were killed, nearly half of them by the IRA, including scores of children.
Kneecap say they wrote their first song following a brush with the police after being caught graffitiing the word ‘cearta’, which means ‘rights’ in Irish, on a bus stop.
For its part, Kneecap insisted the band’s message ‘has always been – and remains – one of love, inclusion and hope’
Their ages mean they were all born around the time of the 1994 IRA ceasefire and 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ushered in a period of relative peace
It prompted their debut track C.E.A.R.T.A – an Irish-language rap mostly berating police attempts to stop them getting high, which was playlisted by Irish broadcaster RTE but later pulled after listeners complained about its drug references.
The image used to promote another of the group’s early songs, H.O.O.D, featured one of the band members holding a hurling stick studded with nails next to a policeman tied to a chair. The lyrics include: ‘Do ya want it in your chest? / Or your knees or your head?’
In 2019, the group led a chant of ‘Get the Brits out’ at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast, a day after Prince William and Kate had visited the venue. Kneecap later claimed on Twitter, now X, that the chant ‘was about Brexit’.
DJ Próvaí said he began wearing his balaclava during performances to hide his identity from the school where he taught Irish. But his day job came to an end in 2020 after his bosses were alerted to a video of a gig where he’d painted ‘Brits out’ on his buttocks.
In 2021, Kneecap retweeted a news report warning that growing numbers of teenagers were expressing support for the IRA on social media, with the comment ‘Finally some gd [good] news.’
The group promoted their Farewell To The Union tour with an image of then-prime minister Boris Johnson and former Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster strapped to a rocket on top of a bonfire, as two band members crouched at the bottom holding a petrol bomb.
In 2022, the group unveiled a mural of a burning police Land Rover above the Irish-language slogan ‘No welcome for the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary)’. The image shocked many in the province, where more than 300 members of the RUC were murdered during the Troubles.
More recently, Kneecap have taken an equally combative position on the conflict in the Middle East. A week after the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023, in which over 1,200 people were killed in Israel, the band posted a picture of the Palestinian flag emblazoned with the slogan ‘Resistance is Not Terrorism’.
More recently, Kneecap have taken an equally combative position on the conflict in the Middle East
A week after the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023, in which over 1,200 people were killed in Israel, the band posted a picture of the Palestinian flag emblazoned with the slogan ‘Resistance is Not Terrorism’
When they met Jeremy Corbyn in London two months later, band member Mo Chara again highlighted his solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
At the end of the interview, the former Labour leader told them: ‘Thanks, guys, for what you do in inspiring so many people.’
The band have also enjoyed support from former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and, since 2019, have been managed by Daniel Lambert, a former Irish diplomat to the UN and ex-member of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs’ Conflict Resolution Unit, where he worked with peacebuilding organisations.
Despite his background, Mr Lambert tweeted that Gaza was ‘striking for liberation’ and had a ‘right to armed resistance under international law’.
He has also shared an image of the late October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar alongside a quotation from the Hamas leader: ‘Does the world expect us to be well-behaved victims while we are getting killed?’
A legal representative for Mr Lambert denied the posts amounted to praise of Hamas.
While Kneecap enjoyed some support in Northern Ireland, what propelled them to prominence was an extraordinary mix of public funding and fawning coverage from the BBC.
As one woman in Belfast said this week: ‘They’re just three wee gobshites who wouldn’t have got much beyond the Falls Road if people who should have known much better hadn’t rushed to help them.’
The band have enjoyed support from former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and, since 2019, have been managed by Daniel Lambert, a former Irish diplomat to the UN and ex-member of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs’ Conflict Resolution Unit, where he worked with peacebuilding organisations
While Kneecap enjoyed some support in Northern Ireland, what propelled them to prominence was an extraordinary mix of public funding and fawning coverage from the BBC
Despite huge concerns about the group, £1.6 million of public money helped fund an eponymous semi-autobiographical film starring its members.
The project received £810,000 from the National Lottery. The cash – which is meant to be used for the ‘public good’ – was distributed by the British Film Institute, which told the Mail its funding ‘is not an endorsement of the politics depicted in the film or of political statements made by those involved.’
Another £805,000 came from Northern Ireland Screen, including a chunk from the UK taxpayer-funded Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
When the Mail exposed this, it provoked horror among people who had been injured or lost loved ones during the Troubles. Former British soldier Noel Downey, 60, who lost a leg in a 1990 IRA car bomb, said he was appalled public money had funded a film promoting ‘sectarian bigots’.
The band was helped in its bid to boost its profile in January 2024 when a BBC puff piece about them ran all day across the Radio 4 Today programme and national TV bulletins.
Hailing Kneecap as being at the ‘forefront of Irish hip-hop’, the report made only a passing reference to their controversy. In an interview, the reporter left unchallenged the band’s assertion they were only interested in ‘making music, not stirring up tensions’. Instead of follow-up questions, she instead asked them to teach her some Irish.
The BBC said it had ‘made sure the audience was aware of the sometimes controversial aspects’ of Kneecap’s work.
The following week Kneecap arrived at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for their film premiere on an armoured police Land Rover graffitied with the band’s name. The film won the festival’s Audience Award and later a Bafta. Endorsements from music legends also rolled in; Sir Elton John has called them ‘extraordinary’.
When they met Jeremy Corbyn in London two months later, band member Mo Chara again highlighted his solidarity with the Palestinian cause
A few public figures did try to push back. After the first Mail exposé about Kneecap, Kemi Badenoch – then Business Secretary – blocked the group from receiving a grant it had been allocated by the British Phonographic Industry.
But the band sued, claiming discrimination on the grounds of nationality and political opinion and, after the new Labour Government declined to fight the case, Kneecap were awarded £14,250 at Belfast High Court. The band revelled in the victory, boasting they had taken some of the ‘King’s money’, when all they had actually taken was more hard-working taxpayers’ cash.
Ms Badenoch has called for them to be prosecuted over the recently emerged footage. This time, she has been joined by Sir Keir Starmer, who has branded the band’s comments ‘completely unacceptable’. The Prime Minister also said no further public funds would be directed towards them.
To make things more tricky for Kneecap, many of the group’s fans have accused them of being ‘sell-outs’ for apologising at all.
The fallout has seen them cancelled from several German festivals and from a gig at the Eden Project in Cornwall. Back in Belfast, the DUP has called for the band to be axed from a concert in the city, citing concerns over the ‘glorification of terrorism’ and ‘incitement to violence’.
But all is not lost for the group, who are still scheduled to appear at Glastonbury next month. This is despite the Board of Deputies of British Jews and several MPs calling for them to be dropped. Katie Amess, the daughter of slain MP for Southend West David Amess, said it would be ‘very dangerous’ for them to perform.
If nothing else, it’s hard to see how the band’s statements of support for terrorist groups and calls to kill MPs could fit with Glastonbury’s mission to strive towards an ‘inclusive and accepting world’.
But then, if Kneecap can insist its message is entirely about ‘love, inclusion, and hope’, anything is possible.
