Kneecap declare ‘they are trying to silence us’ as rapper faces terror offence charge
They believe they are being made an 'example' of.
Kneecap received a wildly positive reception as they arrived on stage at the Wide Awake festival at Brockwell Park in south London tonight.
Ahead of their entrance, videos of the Irish rap trio being condemned were shown on a screen.
The message ‘Free Palestine’ was also displayed and was met with cheers from the crowd.
It comes as member Liam O’Hanna, who performs in the band along with Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, faces charges of a terror offence over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag.
Stepping out tonight, the performer declared that he is being ‘silenced’.
He told the audience: ‘I went for an interview with the counter-terror police, and within days they came to a verdict that they were going to charge me; never has it been that quick.
The Irish rappers performed at Wide Awake Festival (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images) They were met with wild applause from the South London crowd (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)‘And the reason it was that quick was because Glastonbury is just around the corner; they’re trying to silence us.’
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch recently called for Kneecap to be banned and suggested they should be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival bill this June, with a number of other politicians making the same demand.
The 27-year-old rap star, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, said he believes the group are ‘being made an example of’.
O’Hanna continued: ‘We are being made an example of; the Israeli lobbyists are trying to prove to other artists that if you speak out, we’re going to hit you where it hurts most.
‘They’re trying to cancel gigs; they’re trying to cancel my freedom of travel.
‘And the fact that I’m speaking to this amount of people, and I assume the majority of you will agree, shows that we’re on the right side of history.’
The group said they came close to axing the gig (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images) O’Hanna and his bandmates have urged fans to continue showing their support (Picture: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)Echoing his remarks, another member of the group said: ‘Thank you very much. They tried to stop this gig.’
Another was heard saying: ‘Honestly, lads, you have no idea how close we were to being pulled off this gig.’
Members of the trio later urged their fans to gather outside court for the first hearing of their bandmate.
‘If anybody’s about on June 18… we’re all going to gather outside the Westminster court to show support.
‘Anybody who’s free on June 18, get a big bag of Ket, and we’ll go on the steps of Westminster.’
The incident that led to O’Hanna’s charges is alleged to have happened at a concert last November.
O’Hanna, 27, will appear in court on June 18 (Picture: Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI) He also performed a gig in the capital last night, posing for photos as he arrived in high spirits (Picture: PA)However, the Metropolitan Police said it was only made aware of video footage the following April.
The trio had gigs cancelled after the clip emerged, allegedly showing the band calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’.
They apologised last month to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been ‘exploited and weaponised’.
O’Hanna is accused of having displayed the flag of Lebanese Shia Islamist political party Hezbollah, a banned organisation in the UK, ‘in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation.’
He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.
In the meantime, Kneecap are still performing, having also taken to the stage for a surprise gig in central London last night.
Kneecap is made up of O’Hanna, Naoise O Caireallain, and JJ O Dochartaigh (Picture: Sony Pictures/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)Several police officers were seen walking into the 100 Club on Oxford Street ahead of the show to ensure it ‘passed off safely’.
They also released a new song today, The Recap, in which they included lyrics referencing their 2024 discrimination case win against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after former business secretary Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister.
The new song, The Recap, opens with a sample of a news report about the counter-terrorism police investigation into the group.
Its lyrics proceed to mock Badenoch’s attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party’s election loss. The song also features DJ Mozey.
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