Kneecap confirmed for Glastonbury, as UK's biggest festival promotes controversy-hit Belfast rap group to Saturday afternoon slot

The trio are set to play the West Holts Stage in a mid-afternoon slot on the second day of the festival, it was stated in a full release of Glastonbury’s line-up this morning (3rd) – sparking the possibility of the BBC giving national airtime to their performance.

The Belfast rap act have already been cut from high-profile appearances at festivals in the UK and Europe, and one of their number is currently facing a terror charge that stems from a video circulated last month allegedly showing him wrapped in the flag of Hezbollah while shouting “up Hezbollah!” during a gig in London.

Other video footage showing what appeared to be a member of the group shouting “the only good Tory is a dead Tory, kill your local MP” was roundly criticised by politicians, and led to calls from both Labour and Tory MPs for their Glastonbury set to be axed.

But the festival this morning confirmed they’re to take the West Holts Stage at 4pm on Saturday, June 28.

Specialising in hip-hop, soul, R&B and reggae, West Holts is the third-largest stage in the massive festival, holding around 30,000 people – roughly a quarter of the capacity of its main Pyramid Stage.

Although they’re far from headliners, Kneecap’s slot is a substantial promotion on their appearance at last year’s festival when they played the same stage first thing on Saturday morning.

It also opens the possibility of them making BBC TV or radio.

Last year, Kneecap didn’t feature in the BBC’s broadcast or streaming coverage of the festival – to the consternation of their fuming fans in Northern Ireland, many of whom alleged a conspiracy to silence the republican rappers.

In fact, the band were simply in too early a slot; the BBC normally doesn’t show any of the groups that play in the morning or early afternoon, meaning they never stood a chance of making it to the nation’s screens.

But a 4pm appearance could be a different story, and the public service broadcaster does plan to cover the West Holts Stage.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines. Decisions about our broadcast output will be made in the lead-up to the festival.”

Last week the group were axed from a planned slot at Glasgow’s prestigious TRNSMT Festival, which followed them losing appearances at two high-profile festivals in Germany as well as an event at Cornwall’s Eden Project. A headline slot at London’s Wide Awake Festival went ahead.

In May, Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh was charged under the name Liam O’Hanna with a terror offence over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig in November last year. The band are now selling T-shirts referencing the case calling for him to be “free”.

The group, also made up of Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, have apologised to the families of two murdered British politicians over the “kill your local MP” clip, but insisted the video has been “exploited and weaponised”. They also said they have “never supported” banned organisation Hezbollah.