{"id":11,"date":"2025-04-29T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/?p=11"},"modified":"2025-04-29T15:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T15:43:00","slug":"uk-government-condemns-unacceptable-kneecap-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/uk-government-condemns-unacceptable-kneecap-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"UK government condemns ‘unacceptable’ Kneecap comments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The UK government has condemned alleged comments made by rap group Kneecap as “completely unacceptable” and suggested they should not be able to receive government funding.<\/p>\n

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch\u00a0blocked a government grant to the bilingual Belfast group while she was business secretary<\/a>, but the decision was overturned.<\/p>\n

Video footage has emerged of the group at a concert in November 2023, where one of the band members appears to say: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP”.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he did not think “individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kneecap have said on social media that they have “faced a co-ordinated smear campaign”.<\/p>\n

The footage is being assessed by\u00a0counter-terrorism police<\/a>\u00a0and Badenoch has called for prosecution.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Police said they are assessing that and another video, from November last year, where the footage\u00a0appeared to show a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a performance in London.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Mich\u00e1el Martin called on the trio to “urgently clarify” the comments.<\/p>\n

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.<\/p>\n

None of the members of Kneecap has been charged with any offences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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1:19<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Politicians react to on stage comments of Kneecap<\/div>\n
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Call for clarity<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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In Dublin on Monday the taoiseach said: “Have they, or do they, support Hamas and Hezbollah, because that would be unacceptable.<\/p>\n

“I mean Hezbollah are responsible, in my view, for the\u00a0murder of Sean Rooney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“And both Hamas and Hezbollah have views that are absolutely… not just views, but participated in terrorist activities and appalling killing of innocent people, as witnessed on October the 7th.<\/p>\n

“But it’s not clear to me that they do, that Kneecap does support Hezbollah and Hamas. It’s been asserted that they have made commentary in support of both. I think they need to urgently clarify that.”<\/p>\n

He said there was a “huge responsibility” when it comes to the safety of public representatives.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important that free speech is always facilitated and the capacity to speak out and criticise and condemn policies of others. That’s all legitimate. But in terms of life and security and safety of people, that’s a different issue,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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DJ Pr\u00f3vai from Kneecap performing onstage at Reading Festival August 23, 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government after Badenoch withdrew arts funding for the band, in a move which was deemed “unlawful”.<\/p>\n

Kneecap\u00a0was awarded \u00a314,250<\/a>\u00a0– the same amount they were initially granted.<\/p>\n

Badenoch, speaking on a local election campaigning visit to Lincolnshire, said the statement was “disgusting “and the band “should be prosecuted” and that “people are in prison for sending tweets that don’t go that far”.<\/p>\n

She said they “should not be glorifying terrorism” and are “anti-British”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Northern Ireland’s Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald told BBC News NI that she did not agree with what was said, but that Kneecap is “group that have been very vocal on issues that are important to them like Gaza”.<\/p>\n

“I think the most outrageous issue facing the world today is the ongoing genocide that we are seeing in Palestine and the bombardment that continues on a daily basis, the blockading of aid, the slaughter of innocent women and children and I think that’s what our focus should be on as an international community in bringing an end to that,” she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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DUP Leader Gavin Robinson said Kneecap “need to be in a courtroom”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Kneecap had become a “hatefest”.<\/p>\n

The East Belfast MP said the band’s position was “appalling and outrageous” and said there was a collective political will in London and Dublin to “call out” their comments.<\/p>\n

“These gentlemen don’t need to be on a stage they need to be in a courtroom because it is a hate crime what they are doing,” he added.<\/p>\n

The Alliance MLA, Sian Mulholland, said that Kneecap’s alleged comments “crosses a line from art as a tool of protest and into incitement”.<\/p>\n

She described the rap group’s political views on the conflict in Gaza as “valid” however, Mulholland said the band’s views were being “undermined and overshadowed” by the group’s actions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK government has condemned alleged comments made by rap group Kneecap as “completely unacceptable” and suggested they should not be able to receive government funding. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch\u00a0blocked a government grant to the bilingual Belfast group while she was business secretary, but the decision was overturned. Video footage has emerged of the group … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnluxe.site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}