A DUP MLA has written to the telecoms company Three inviting them to think twice about their sponsorship of an upcoming festival in which Kneecap are due to perform.

East Belfast MLA David Brooks (formerly of Belfast City Council) penned the open letter to the company’s chief executive, asking “if Three still intends to continue to associate itself with, support and promote” the two-day Belfast Vital gathering this summer in light of the controversy surrounding the republican rap act.

Meanwhile the party has also hit out at former SDLP leader Colum Eastwood after the MP said that the group’s Glastonbury set should not be cancelled because people should not be “policing artists”.

The group currently is under investigation by counter-terror police over videos which depict, firstly, a member telling the crowd at one of their London gigs that “the only good Tory is a dead Tory – kill your local MP” and, secondly, rapper Mo Chara wrapped in a Hezbollah flag while roaring “tiocfaidh ar la, up Hamas, up Hezbollah!”

placeholder image — DJ Provai from Kneecap pictured reading the collected thoughts of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's former leader. Posted on Kneecap's Twitter feed.

It has previously posted a picture on Twitter of member DJ Provai reading the collected thoughts of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s erstwhile leader.

The group have since released a statement saying they do not support Hamas or Hezbollah, and rejecting “any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual”.

The group, which has had a number of its planned gigs cancelled in the past 10 days, is set to appear before 40,000 people at Belfast Vital on Friday, August 29, in support of Dublin outfit Fontaines DC (the gig is sold out).

The reason that gig is particularly contentious is because it is being held at a council-owned venue: Boucher Playing Fields.

Mr Brooks’ open letter to Three says he has “concern” about the firm’s sponsorship of Belfast Vital.

“I recognise that Three's sponsorship of this event came before the most recent spotlight was shone on some of the most egregious behaviour by Kneecap,” he said.

"I also recognise that corporate sponsorship of local music events like Vital is and has long been a positive and welcome contribution in support of the arts, and in general terms is to be commended.

"They are most often events that build rather than damage relations and include rather than exclude all communities in Northern Ireland and beyond. I am quite sure that Three's intention was to be associated with that kind of event."

But he said “many local customers of Three” will now “understandably question if the company is comfortable giving corporate endorsement to” an event featuring Kneecap.

“Some of us are not surprised that a band – whose name and styling, including balaclavas, is perceived by many to invoke sinister elements of Northern Ireland's troubled past – would then behave in the way that is now being reported,” he went on to say.

"Kneecap are of course entitled to freedom of expression. I do however believe, even if I may speak with some level of bias as a political representative myself, that incitement to murder a politician would be beyond the parameters most people would see as reasonable in that regard.

"Can I clarify then in that context if Three still intends to continue to associate itself with, support and promote this event while Kneecap continue to be part of the line-up?”

Efforts to contact Three have so far met with no response.

The furore around Kneecap began when the band displayed the message “F**K ISRAEL” on a screen at the Coachella music festival in California on April 18, along with the accusation that the nation is engaged in genocide in Gaza (where it has been widely reported that over 50,000 people have been killed in Israel’s bombardment; it is not clear how many of those were Hamas members).

Previously when contacted, the band’s manager Daniel Lambert has said: “There’s journalism and then there’s the News Letter Belfast. Nobody from Kneecap will be providing comment to your ‘paper’, ever. Free Palestine!"

Asked about the calls to axe Kneecap from various lineups, he today told the News Letter: “Today is day 62 of an illegal siege of Gaza. Children are starving to death. Have some decency and talk about what matters."

Kneecap’s full statement of apology, issued via Twitter, was as follows:

They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide.

Establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.