DUP questions use of public land to stage huge upcoming Kneecap gig in Belfast this summer
The DUP has questioned the use of public land for staging a huge upcoming gig by the republican rap trio Kneecap.
It was revealed on Tuesday that the group is slated appear at this year's Belfast Vital festival, held at Boucher Playing Fields in south Belfast.
They are due to play there on Friday, August 29 (the second day of a two-day festival).
Boucher Playing Fields is owned by Belfast City Council.
According to promotions firm MCD, the gig is "subject to licence".
Tickets began going on sale yesterday.
Promo material describes Kneecap as "friends and very special guests" of the Dublin-based Fontaines DC, who will headline the event, with the rappers second on the bill.
Controversy has previously arisen over the use of public land in the Waterside of Londonderry to stage a Kneecap concert.
Councillor Sarah Bunting, leader of the council's 15-strong DUP contingent (out of a total of 60 councillors), told the News Letter: “It is deeply concerning that Kneecap has been selected to perform at Belfast Vital, particularly given their track record of inflammatory behaviour and associations that many in Belfast and beyond find deeply offensive.
"Only this last week Kneecap has once again engaged in divisive and offensive rhetoric which, if repeated on Belfast City Council property, would bring significant reputational damage upon the council."
She added that their “anti-Israel rhetoric and disrespectful language towards the dead should be enough for Belfast City Council to step in ask the promoters of this event to find somewhere else” – a reference to their chants of “Maggie’s in a box,” mocking the death of Margaret Thatcher.
She said the council should “urgently review” the planned gig, adding: “As a public authority, Belfast City Council must hold itself to a higher standard than commercial organisations.
"Kneecap may be commercially successful, but if that’s the yardstick for Belfast City Council then they will provide poor leadership for Belfast. Belfast deserves better.”
Moglai Bap, one of Kneecap’s members, has previously denied being sectarian, saying: "There's a lot of playfulness and a lot of fun and craic, if you're offended by it then you're just not getting the joke...
"We didn't establish sectarianism and we're not fuelling it either.
"We're not creating art for controversy's sake, we live in a place where people are quite easily offended by certain topics.”