Kneecap say sorry to families of murdered MPs and insist they don't support Hamas - but band issues scathing attack on UK and Irish support for 'genocide'
The west Belfast rap band Kneecap has issued a heavily qualified statement of retreat from its outspoken and widely condemned political slogans, apologising to the families of two murdered MPs and saying that it would never support such violence.
The band also said that it does not support the mass murdering Islamic extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, or violence against civilians.
The musical trio, one of whom always wears a balaclava that symbolises Irish republican paramilitarism, with green, white and gold colours, issued what they described as “heartfelt apologies” to the families of the murdered MPs David Amess and Jo Cox.
In a 2023 clip of the band, one of them appeared to say: “We’re still under British occupation in Ireland. We still have old men in London making decisions that affect my life in Ireland – and even worse, they're f***ing Tories. The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
The prime minister condemned Kneecap and the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for a prosecution the video emerged in recent days.
Downing Street said that Sir Keir Starmer believes the comments were “completely unacceptable” and “condemns them in the strongest possible terms”.
Ms Badenoch said Kneecap’s “anti-British hatred has no place in our society” as she called for them to face prosecution. Scotland Yard is looking into the incident, along with another concert from November 2024 in which a member of the band appeared to shout “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.
In a long statement on their account on the social media platform X, posted just after midnight early on Tuesday, Kneecap issued scathing commentary on what Kneecap called Israel’s genocide. The band said that since what it called “their statements” at a rock festival in California called Coachella “exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people — we have faced a coordinated smear campaign”.
Then Kneecap said: “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation's history.
“We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.”
The band also said: “This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation. All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel.”
The statement said: “To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt. Kneecap’s message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs.
“No smear campaign will change that.”
There was no mention of the four MPs murdered by Irish republican terrorists – who make up most of the six Westminster MPs murdered since 1945 (Airey Neave, Sir Anthony Berry, Robert Bradford and Ian Gow).
Kneecap said that they had used their shows “to call out the British and Irish governments' complicity in war crimes. They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide”.
They said that “establishment figures, desperate to silence us” had combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, “extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria”.
The band said: “At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed. The British government continues to supply arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS doctors warned Keir Starmer in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head.
“Instead of defending innocent people or the principles of international law, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine. This is where real anger and outrage should be directed towards.
"Suddenly, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain. The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power.
“Shame on them.”