The idiot band “Kneecap” are finding it a bit hot in the kitchen and have retreated to the living room for a sit-down. When the chips were down, it turns out that the didn’t have it in their ideologically arthritic knees to stand up. So what are the chips?
Well, owing to their poorly-considered political rantings – the swaggering bravado of which probably seemed like a good idea for some headline-grabbing publicity at the time – they are now facing contracts rescinded, cancelled concerts, visas revoked, criminal prosecution, and scrutiny by anti-terror police.
When Kemi Badenoch was Business Secretary, she wisely blocked public funding for the band, concerned about their radical politics. The new Labour government reversed her decision. But now Downing Street have realised Badenoch was right and have condemned the band for inflammatory comments apparently calling for the murder of Members of Parliament. The police are now investigating.
What’s more, the rappers appear to have given support proscribed terrorist groups from the stage. Footage from a gig in London shows them apparently waving a Hezbollah flag while a group member shouts “Up Hamas! Up Hezbollah!” and leads the crowd in a chant supporting the terror group. At the Coachella festival in the US, they alleged that Israel was committing “genocide” and shouted “Fuck Israel! Free Palestine!”. In an interview with former Labour Leader (and now ‘independent’) Jeremy Corbyn, they characterise Hamas as “The Resistance”, while reciting the trope that the conflict “did not start on October the 7th”.
At first they appeared to double-down when criticised, but now – as the consequences are more clear – they are frantically back-pedalling.
They issued a statement on X claiming that “the establishment” was trying to silence them over their opposition to the “genocide” in Gaza where they say millions are being “starved to death”. But here’s where their knees go weak. They claim:
- “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah.”
- “We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual.”
Then follows the usual “taken out of context” allegations that you will be familiar with by now as the stock denial of anyone caught saying anything which later proved inconvenient. They have also apologised to the Cox and Amess families of murdered MPs. I doubt that it will help.
To make matters worse (for them), there are signs – if the X backlash is anything to go by – that their fans have now turned on them for their lack of having the courage of their convictions. Here is a sampling of some of the responses to their statement:
- “??????? WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING… by caving into baby-killing colonizers?”
- “You’re mostly ceasefire babies cosplaying as some kind of veteran Republicans … Not long ago Republicans would stand by their words and take a trip to the slammer as a mark of pride.”
- “What a disappointment. Long live the resistance and glory to the martyrs. If you support people’s liberation, you cannot condemn their resistance. It’s like condemning Warsaw Ghetto or the ANC. Jesus Christ.”
- “How the fuck do they not support the resistance?!?!… Clown shit…I hate performative mofos…”
- “And this is why no one can be liberated because we have people like this.”
- “They’re pussies”
But at least one fan came to their defence with “Unfortunately, Zionist tentacles are everywhere, and for the band to capitulate like this, the pressure must be intense.”
Hopefully they will return to obscurity. Certainly they should go to jail.
Keir Starmer needs to act. It was his government that decided to reverse Kemi Badenoch’s efforts to deny this band funding and by default funneled them over £14,000. But more than that, it was Keir Starmer’s government who aggressively prosecuted and jailed a woman for incitement for a mere tweet which she later deleted. This woman was not a public figure and did not have thousands of followers and fans. Many do not accept that this meets a reasonable threshold for ‘incitement’. In contrast, Kneecap have made their alleged comments calling for violence against elected members of parliament and support for terror groups from international stages in front of huge crowds. This certainly does meet every reasonable standard, and if Keir Starmer does not push for an even more severe response in this case, he will most certainly be accused of allowing two-tier justice.
But if there is justice, their criminal convictions will result in, er, criminal convictions.
