Irish hip-hop group Kneecap drew headlines throughout their weekend two efficiency at Coachella 2025, however not for the explanations a buzzing band usually claims. The group carried out within the Sonora tent in entrance of enormous screens that projected references to genocide, denouncements of Israel and calls to “free Palestine.” Their set on April 18 additionally condemned the U.S. for its navy assist of Israel.
Whereas the Coachella music pageant isn’t any stranger to political statements made onstage, this name to “Fuck Israel” has incensed Jewish teams who’re calling out the fest’s promoter Goldenvoice (a subsidiary of AEG) for its half in reserving the band, which has been identified to espouse the ideology of terrorist teams akin to Hamas and Hezbollah. Kneecap adopted up its Coachella set on social media with quite a few video posts about their “uncensored messaging” and a request for younger Individuals to ship the clips to President Trump, whom they known as a derogatory time period that begins with a c.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to AEG for remark. In keeping with insiders, Paul Tollett, CEO of Goldenvoice, was mentioned to be “blindsided” by the band’s motion. “Paul is an effective man and has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of survivors of the Nova Music Pageant,” Scooter Braun wrote on his Instagram Sunday following Kneecap’s set, noting that Tollett had attended the Los Angeles memorial exhibit Braun created honoring the a whole bunch who misplaced their lives within the October 7, 2023 assaults on southern Israel. “He not solely attended the exhibit however stayed for 5 hours after which sat with survivors.”
The Sonora tent didn’t livestream its weekend 2 acts, which some recommend might have been intentional realizing the band might take the chance to convey an incendiary message. For its weekend 1 efficiency, the stream minimize off earlier than the set’s finish.
Kneecap had been fashioned in Belfast, Northern Eire in 2017, and have lengthy been a controversial and vocally political group. The group consists of vocalists Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap and the DJ Próvaí. They’re strongly related to Irish Republicanism, the motion calling for the reunification of Eire away from British rule. Kneecap broke by means of in 2018 with their debut single “C.E.A.R.T.A.,” which is Irish for “rights.” They launched their debut studio album 3CAG that yr, and their second album Advantageous Artwork by means of Heavenly Recordings in 2024.
Final week, Kneecap had claimed that the pageant had censored their pro-Palestine messages in addition to their anti-Margaret Thatcher chant. “Again subsequent Friday Coachella and it’ll be sorted,” the band tweeted final week together with an emoji for the Palestinian flag.
Every week later, they doubled down with their onscreen “fuck Israel, free Palestine” declarations and a “free, free Palestine” chant throughout the set, including that “the Irish usually are not so longer persecuted below the Brits, however we had been by no means bombed below the fucking skies with nowhere to go.”
Up to now few years, the Sonora Tent, the smallest tent onsite, has grow to be residence to the punkier artists on the invoice. Kneecap’s late afternoon set throughout weekend one was buzzy, as there was an line spilling out the door. The room was full and filled with power, paying homage to the powder keg vibe of early Odd Future reveals.f
Throughout weekend one, the group performed in minimal mild, obscuring their faces fully. Their brand, a pair of intense eyes, had been on the display all through. The Sonora tent is fully enclosed, so it felt extra like a membership present than a pageant set. The group did point out Palestine a couple of instances the primary week, however it was extra of a typical political assertion than certainly one of hate — they riled up the group with it with out it overtaking the set.
The Artistic Group for Peace, a nonprofit comprised of leisure business professionals, shared an announcement Sunday detailing its efforts to succeed in out to Goldenvoice and AEG forward of Kneecap’s week 2 present. The group urged the organizers to cancel noting the group’s earlier assist for teams like Hamas and Hezbollah. CCFP’s govt director Ari Ingel known as on venues and promoters to boycott the band, and known as for the group’s visas to be revoked as properly.
“Festivals akin to Coachella are supposed to convey individuals collectively to have a good time music and life, as a substitute they allowed the pageant to devolve right into a discussion board of hate — platforming a band that praised a terrorist group that carried out the most important bloodbath in music historical past,” Ingel mentioned. “At a time of report ranges of antisemitism, it’s outrageous that AEG and Goldenvoice allowed this to occur.”
The Nova Group additionally issued an announcement, which learn, partially:
“This previous weekend at Coachella, the band Kneecap shared messaging that deeply damage many in our neighborhood — an affront made much more painful in mild of the bloodbath that occurred on the Nova Music Pageant on October 7. The Nova neighborhood was constructed on the beliefs of peace, freedom, and unity by means of music. Our pageant was an area the place individuals got here collectively — throughout cultures and beliefs — to have a good time life. That’s why we consider that even within the face of ignorance or provocation, our response have to be rooted in empathy, not hate. … We invite the members of Kneecap to go to the Nova Exhibition and expertise firsthand the tales of those that had been murdered, those that survived, and people who are nonetheless being held hostage. To not disgrace or silence — however to attach. To witness. To grasp. … Therapeutic begins with listening. And we consider that even those that have spoken from a spot of anger or misinformation are able to empathy — if they’re prepared to see.”
Kneecap has garnered renown past the music world in movie. The trio starred alongside Michael Fassbender and portrayed themselves in a breezy eponymous biopic that THR known as a “cheeky Irish rap comedy.” The “irreverent origin story” premiered at Sundance in 2024 because the pageant’s first Irish language movie — set in 2019, Kneecap takes place within the Gaeltacht, or Irish-speaking, quarter of West Belfast — and was shortlisted for 2 Oscars, greatest worldwide function and greatest unique tune for “Sick within the Head.” Kneecap went on to win 4 out of ten crafts classes on the British Unbiased Movie Awards. and was nominated for 5 BAFTAs, the British Oscars, profitable excellent debut by a British author, director or producer for writer-director Wealthy Peppiatt.
