Irish rappers Kneecap apologise to families of murdered UK lawmakers

By Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) - Irish rap band Kneecap apologised on Tuesday to the families of two murdered British lawmakers after footage emerged of one of the trio appearing to say "Kill your local MP" during a performance in 2023.

In the video footage, from a London concert, a band member appears to say: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP".

Tory refers to the Conservative Party, which was in power in Britain at the time.

Kneecap has also faced criticism over pro-Palestinian messages projected on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California this month, ending with: "Fuck Israel. Free Palestine."

A video clip posted on X from a concert in 2024 appears to show a band member saying: "Up Hamas, up Hezbollah."

The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah are both banned in Britain.

Kneecap, whose members have the stage names Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, said the clips were a smear campaign.

"Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah," they said on X. "We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation's history."

The rappers apologised to the families of Jo Cox, a Labour lawmaker fatally stabbed in 2016, and David Amess, a Conservative lawmaker stabbed to death in 2021.

"We never intended to cause you hurt," they said.

Britain's interior minister, Yvette Cooper, said the band's comments in the video clips were a "total disgrace", and that police were examining the footage.

"It's dangerous to make these sorts of comments, whether it is terrorist organizations or whether it is about the safety of MPs, when we have seen two MPs killed in recent years," she told Times Radio.

Kneecap, who rap about Irish identity and support the republican cause of uniting British-run Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, are due to play at the Glastonbury Festival in England in June.

Their name comes from a punishment meted out by paramilitary gunmen during decades of confrontation between Irish nationalist militants, pro-British "loyalist" paramilitaries and the British security services, when victims were shot in the kneecaps.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by Timothy Heritage)