Kneecap, the Irish hip-hop trio, has made headlines for their onstage anti-Israel comments, support of designated terrorist organizations, and pro-BDS activities. As of August 26, 2025, Kneecap cancelled its sold-out October tour of the US amid a legal battle and pushback concerning their uninhibited support for extremist organizations in their activism.
In February 2025, Kneecap posted a picture of a band member reading a book of statements by the terrorist organization Hezbollah’s former leader titled, “Voice of Hezbollah the Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”
During their performance at the April 2025, Coachella music festival, Kneecap displayed the message “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people... It is being enabled by the US... Fuck Israel/Free Palestine.”
Soon after their Coachella performance, UK counter-terrorism police opened investigations into Kneecap after videos of the band promoting political violence and terrorism surfaced. These included a November 2023 video where a band member stated, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP,” and a video from a November 2024 concert in London, where band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh is seen draped in a Hezbollah flag and chanting, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.” In May 2025, London’s Metropolitan Police charged Ó hAnnaidh with a criminal offense for displaying the flag of a terrorist organization.
While performing at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2025 in Somerset, England, Ó hAnnaidh gave a shoutout to Palestine Action Group, which had recently been banned by the UK under the Terrorism Act of 2000. Avon and Somerset Police launched an investigation into the comments made in Glastonbury but decided not to pursue further action.
On social media, Kneecap has a troubling record of demonizing Zionists and delegitimizing Israel. In December 2024, the band posted a cartoon depicting the Star of David with a swastika, invoking the trauma Jews faced at the hands of Nazis during the Holocaust in order to demonize the Jewish state, and a caption calling Israel a “terrorist state.” Also in December 2024, Kneecap negated the Jewish ancestral connection to the land of Israel, posting a racist and colonialist quote from Winston Churchill, in order to depict Israel as a colonial state.
Moving beyond provocative, Kneecap’s overt endorsements of proscribed extremist groups, incendiary social media and onstage messages, and glorification of political violence has repeatedly crossed lines, even legal ones. Kneecap exemplifies how cultural influence and a public platform can be weaponized to proliferate extremism – and why institutions, audiences, and authorities are increasingly unwilling and unable to look away.
