Irish rappers Kneecap deny support for Hamas and Hezbollah, apologize for comments about killing politicians

The Irish rappers Kneecap have denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and publicly apologized to the families of two British legislators killed while the Hip-Hop trio continues to face a public reaction for the political opinions they have expressed in their concerts.

“Let’s be unequivocal: we have not supported it, and we have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all the attacks on civilians, always. It is never fine,” said the band in a statement published Monday on social networks.

Kneecap’s statement occurred after the United Kingdom police said they were investigating videos related to a 2024 Kneecap concert in which one of the band members seems to shout: “Up Hamas, even Hezbollah.”

Hamas and Hezbollahboth currently participate in Fighting with Israelthey are designated as terrorist groups by the United States, Israel and the European Union.

British and Irish governments have strongly condemned the language used by Kneecap members.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, the leader of the Republic of Ireland, Micheál Martin, said that the support for Hamas or Hezbollah is “unacceptable” and asked Kneecap to urgently clarify his views. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Monday that he condemned the comments of the group “in the stronger terms”.

The United Kingdom Police also said that they were reviewing the video of a concert in 2023 in which a KNEECAP member seems to ask to kill the conservative legislators of the party, who are often known as conservatives, saying on stage: “The only good Tory is a dead conservative. He kills his local deputy.”

These comments have been strongly criticized by the families of two British legislators who were killed in recent years. The families of conservative member of Parliament David Amesswho was stabbed by an ISIS supporter in 2021, and MP of the Labor Party Jo Coxwho was shot and stabbed several times by a neo -Nazi sympathizer, asked for a public apology from the group,

In the same statement in which the group denied having supported Hamas and Hezbollah, Kneecap addressed those criticisms and said: “For the AMESS and Cox families, we sent our sincere apologies, we never had the intention of causing you to hurt you.”

Brendan Cox, the husband of the deceased Jo Cox, described the declaration of the group “only half of the apology.”

“It is good to say that you feel it, but the way they have really talked about it is to suggest that it is a conspiracy, that they have been unjustly attacked, and for me, that does not seem unfortunately genuine,” he told the News themezone’ BBC Radio partners network.

The last controversies surrounded the hip-hop trio after the group faced an intense scrutiny for the comments they made while they acted in Coachella earlier this month.

The messages were shown on a screen behind the band while doing, including: “F ** K Israel”, “Free Palestine” and “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Sharon Osbourne, the wife of the former Black Sabbath leader, Ozzy Osbourne, and former host of the American interview program The Talk, turned to social networks to call the band to revorate their work visas in the United States.

Osborne criticized the “aggressive political statements” of the band and said that Kneecap had turned Coachella “into a Hamas Fans club.”

In:
• Hamas
• Israel
• Coachella
• Hezbollah