Kneecap at Glastonbury: BBC still doesn't know if it'll show Belfast band - decision down to the wire as festival starts
The BBC still doesn’t know if it’ll show Kneecap’s performance at the UK’s biggest music festival, even though Glastonbury has already started.
The huge English festival opened its gates this morning (25th), and thousands of revellers are already on site.
Controversy-courting Belfast rappers Kneecap are due to perform on Saturday afternoon, despite both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch slamming the decision to stage the band.
Taking decisions down to the wire, BBC officials say they still haven’t worked out whether to include the act in its extensive Glastonbury coverage, telling the News Letter: “Decisions about our output will be made in the lead up to the festival.”
Technically, the festival has already begun; the course of today will see tens of thousands of people arrive at its campsite, with the first acts on in a series of dance music tents tomorrow before the main stages open for business on Friday morning.
Kneecap are due on the festival’s third-largest stage at 4pm on Saturday; the BBC’s live TV coverage doesn’t start until 5pm that day, by which point the group’s performance will have finished.
Digital music station 6Music will be broadcasting from Glastonbury all day long, and in 2024 selected Kneecap as one of its Artists Of The Year; at 4pm, host Cerys Matthews promises appearances from indie-pop act Japanese Breakfast, Estonian folk performers Duo Ruut and dance DJ Sherelle – but there is no mention of the rap trio.
Kneecap also weren’t included in a BBC press release announcing the broadcaster’s Glastonbury schedule, leading some of their fans to presume they definitely won’t appear and lash out on social media, accusing the BBC of censorship.
But officials are adamant no decision has been made, stating: “As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
“Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines.”
That’s the same line the BBC has stuck to since the News Letter first probed Glastonbury plans at the start of this month.
The BBC has indicated Kneecap’s Glastonbury set could appear on a delayed broadcast, which would allow it to trim contentious language.
The group could also be relegated to one or two numbers in a highlights round-up – for example, their track ‘Sick In The Head’, a wry look at mental health, features little explicit language, no real politics and no provocative statements, making it a safe choice for broadcast.
Last year they didn’t feature in the BBC’s coverage at all, which led some fans to concoct a conspiracy theory that the broadcaster was silencing them for being republicans. In fact, Kneecap were too low down the bill for the BBC to record them, but this year’s more high-profile appearance could mean cameras come their way.
One member of Kneecap is currently facing a terror charge of supporting banned organisation Hezbollah, stemming from actions and comments he allegedly made on stage in London six months ago.
In April, the group apologised to the families of two murdered politicians after video footage emerged of a band member apparently calling for MPs to be killed, though Kneecap claimed the clip had been “exploited and weaponised”.