Kneecap statement after Swinney calls for trio to be axed from TRNSMT

The group said condemnation from Downing Street and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is an “effort to derail the real conversation” about Gaza.

Mrs Badenoch called for a member of the group to be prosecuted after a video emerged from a November 2023 gig, appearing to show him saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said the Prime Minister believes the comments were “completely unacceptable” and “condemns them in the strongest possible terms”.

In a statement posted on X, the Belfast group – Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh – said they “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual”.

They said a video extract had been deliberately taken out of context and was being “exploited and weaponised”.

The band has previously claimed they are facing a “co-ordinated smear campaign” after speaking out about “the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people”.

The statement said: “Establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria.

“This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation.”

The band said they have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and condemned all attacks on civilians, apologising to the families of murdered MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, saying “we never intended to cause you hurt”.

Scotland Yard is looking into the incident, along with another concert from November 2024 in which a member of the band appeared to shout “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.

Mrs Badenoch said Kneecap’s “anti-British hatred has no place in our society” and that it is “good” the police are looking into the allegation, adding: “Kneecap’s glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society.

“After the murder of Sir David Amess, this demands prosecution.”

Conservative MP Sir David was stabbed to death while meeting constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2021.

His daughter, Katie Amess, told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster: “It is just beyond belief that human beings would speak like that in this day and age, and it is extremely dangerous.”

She said “to say to kill anybody – what on Earth are they thinking”, warning there are “absolute nutters” who could try to act upon the comments allegedly made by Kneecap.

She called on the group to apologise, saying she was “absolutely gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric”.

Members of Kneecap, left to right, Mo Chara, JJ O’Dochartaigh and Moglai Bap (Brian Lawless/PA)

The Glasgow Times previously reported Swinney said the band had “crossed the line” with comments apparently backing Hamas and calling for the death of MPs, and that it would be “unacceptable” for them to perform at TRNSMT in Glasgow in July. 

Speaking at the Scottish Trade Union Congress, he told media: “The language that you have put to me is completely and utterly unacceptable. There is no way that is acceptable. It’s beyond the pale.

“I think it makes it incredibly difficult for a band like Kneecap to perform at TRNSMT, because I think they have crossed a line.

“It would be unacceptable to me for the band to perform on such a stage.”

He continued: “I’m not very familiar with this group, but what I’ve heard of their comments I find completely and utterly unacceptable, so I cannot see how they can perform at TRNSMT.

“We don’t run the TRNSMT festival, but my opinion, for what it’s worth, is that these comments just are unacceptable.

“They cause division in our society, they cause a lot of unease, and I think TRNSMT will want to respond to that.”

Mrs Badenoch blocked a government grant to the bilingual Belfast group while she was business secretary.

But in November last year, Kneecap won a discrimination challenge over the decision to refuse them a £14,250 funding award after the UK government conceded it was “unlawful”.

Downing Street indicated there would be no further public funds directed towards Kneecap.

“I don’t think organisations such as that should be receiving taxpayers’ money,” the Prime Minister’s spokesman said.

However, the Tory leader criticised the Labour Government’s approach towards the case prior to the emergence of the video.

Mrs Badenoch said during a phone-in on LBC: “I thought, well, that’s not what we should be exporting. I’m not giving them any money. And they took me to court, said they were going to sue me, sue the government for not giving them money to go and export.

“Now the government doesn’t owe anybody money. This is a nice thing that the Conservative government was doing, giving out grants.

“So the court case had been lodged, and in between the court and in between the court case starting and finishing, this snap election was called so I didn’t get to see it through.

“Labour come in and Johnny Reynolds, the new business and trade secretary, just gives them the money and says ‘we’re not fighting this court case,’ they’re going to have let them have the money. And I just thought ‘this is extraordinary.’ This is how money is wasted across the board in government.”

Speaking about Kneecap, she said: “But also, when you look at some of the people who were jailed for sending tweets after the Southport killings, and I’m not justifying what they said, but this is a much worse incident, and I think should face the full force of the law.”

Meanwhile, Labour MP David Taylor has written to the organisers of the Glastonbury Festival, urging them to remove Kneecap from this year’s line-up.

In a letter addressed to founder Sir Michel Eavis and posted on X, the Hemel Hempstead MP said: “By hosting such a group, Glastonbury Festival risks undermining its proud tradition of promoting peace, unity and social responsibility.”

The band are listed to play on the West Holts stage on the Saturday of the June festival.

Counter-terrorism police are assessing footage reportedly from the November 2024 gig in London’s Kentish Town Forum and the November 2023 concert.

On Sunday, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We were made aware of a video on April 22, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.

“We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023.”

He also said the force “are assessing both to determine whether further police investigation is required”.

The counter-terrorism internet referral unit (CTIRU) is a national counter-terrorism policing unit based within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command which is dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online.

Police will carry out an investigation if the material breaches the law.