BBC will not show Kneecap at Glastonbury live, but will 'look to' putting version of performance on iPlayer
The BBC won’t show Kneecap’s Glastonbury performance live, but will ‘look to’ putting it on iPlayer, despite criticism of their appearance from the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition.
This afternoon (28th), just a couple of hours before Kneecap play the music festival’s third-largest stage at 4pm, the UK’s national broadcaster finally ended weeks of mystery over what they’re going to do with the controversial band – one of whose members is facing a terror charge linked to actions and comments he allegedly made on stage in England seven months ago.
The BBC now says the rap trio’s performance won’t be streamed live, but the broadcaster will “look to make an on-demand version available”.
From their statement, it’s not clear if that means a full and unexpurgated version of the deliberately provocative act’s show, or if it could be cut to remove foul language and political statements the BBC could hold to cross its standards and requirements of balance.
A spokeswoman told the News Letter: “As the broadcast partner, the BBC is bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
“Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans ensure that our programming meets our editorial guidelines.
“We don’t always live stream every act from the main stages and look to make an on-demand version of Kneecap’s performance available on our digital platforms, alongside more than 90 other sets.”
The band’s appearance at the UK’s biggest music festival has been slammed by both the Prime Minister and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, with Sir Keir Starmer saying their appearance at Glastonbury is ‘not appropriate’.
One of its members, rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh, is current facing a terror charge relating to alleged support of the banned organisation Hezbollah, after video footage emerged of his actions and comments on stage in London last November.
The band also apologised to the families of two murdered politicians after video footage from a different show in England emerged showing one member apparently saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory, kill your local MP.”
Kneecap have maintained they do not support Hezbollah and insist the “kill your MP” clip has been “weaponised” as part of attempts to silence them due to their stance on Israel.
The band’s fans have been vocally unhappy with the BBC’s silence on showing Kneecap, many holding the position that anything other than showing the band’s entire performance from beginning to end live and uncut amounts to censorship.
That stance echoes a situation last year in which fans concocted a conspiracy theory that Kneecap’s non-appearance in 2024 Glastonbury coverage meant the broadcaster was silencing them for being republicans. In fact, they were so low down the bill the BBC had no reason to record them – but this year they’re in a more high-profile slot.
Yesterday, TUV leader Jim Allister told the News Letter the public service broadcaster should be not showing Kneecap in any capacity, stating: “This issue is not about censorship, but principle; glorifying paramilitary violence isn’t edgy, it’s reckless.”
Describing Kneecap as having a history of “romanticising or trivialising the darkest parts of our history”, he added: “There is a clear difference between pushing artistic limits and sanitising – or, worse, making a joke of – terror.”