Irish band Kneecap have had a meteoric rise within the music business, with tens of hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify alone and widespread essential acclaim.
The trio’s genre-bending rap/hip hop tracks, carried out in a mix of English and Irish-language, have clearly resonated with a mainstream viewers, however their many controversial moments – a few of them seemingly intentional – have helped them hit such heights.
This is what you could know in regards to the band and their most infamous moments.
Who’s within the band?
The group is made up of three buddies from Belfast: Mo Chara (Liam Og O Hannaidh), Moglai Bap (Naoise O Caireallain) and DJ Provai (JJ O Dochartaigh).
The latter is a former trainer who nonetheless wears a balaclava, initially to disguise himself from his college students when the band began out in 2017.
Picture:
Kneecap performing in Belfast final 12 months. Pic: PA
They have been controversial from the get-go – and seemingly by design.
Their debut monitor – CEARTA – relies on how band member Bap was stopped by police for spray-painting cearta, the Irish phrase for rights, on a bus cease.
Earlier than fame, Bap and Chara, who’ve identified one another for round 15 years, reworked a former youth membership into social gathering hub, the place they might play their favorite tracks.
And it was by way of this enterprise into the membership house that they later met DJ Provai.
The group referred to as themselves Kneecap in reference to kneecapping, a standard type of paramilitary punishment in Northern Eire throughout The Troubles which sees somebody shot or hit repeatedly on each knees.
From cult heroes to mainstream success
Kneecap launched their first mixtape, 3cag, in 2018 to essential acclaim, and their 2019 single HOOD is their most streamed single thus far.
However their success reached new ranges in 2024 with the discharge of their 18-track album, Superb Artwork, which culminated in a headline-worthy crowd attending their early-morning timeslot at Glastonbury.
Picture:
Kneecap performed a headline-worthy set at Glastonbury
The band then ventured into the movie business with a self-titled biopic about their rise to prominence, set in post-Troubles Belfast, starring themselves alongside Irish actor Michael Fassbender.
Earlier than its full launch final summer season, it had been the discuss of varied movie festivals, together with Tribeca in New York.
Since then it is bought crazier, with the movie getting six BAFTA nominations and incomes its author and director Wealthy Peppiatt a win for Excellent Debut.
Picture:
Kneecap on the BAFTA Movie Awards 2025 crimson carpet with movie director Wealthy Peppiatt. Pic: PA
The band cracked the UK and are actually following swimsuit within the US, having offered out a number of reveals there.
Courtroom battle with the UK authorities
It might take a very long time to cowl all of Kneecap’s controversial moments; a lot of it is part of their music itself.
They’ve been banned from Irish public service broadcaster RTE for his or her references to drug-taking.
However there have been some significantly high-profile incidents since 2024.
Picture:
Kneecap followers in the course of the Electrical Picnic Pageant in 2022. File pic: PA
The primary was their authorized battle with the then-Conservative UK authorities, who blocked a grant for the band which was initially permitted by the British Phonographic Trade.
The group’s utility to the Music Export Development Scheme, which helps UK-registered artists in world markets, was for £14,250, however Kemi Badenoch, then enterprise secretary, stopped it.
On the time, a authorities spokesperson mentioned it totally supported freedom of speech, however that it was “hardly surprising” it didn’t wish to hand out UK taxpayers’ cash to these against the UK.
Considered one of their most well-known tracks had been 2019’s Get Your Brits Out, which had been criticised for being anti-British.
The trio have all the time denied this being the case.
“We have English family. We have loads of good friends who call themselves British. It’s the British government we don’t like.”
Kneecap gained a discrimination case towards the UK authorities in November, incomes them the identical quantity that the grant was value.
Picture:
Band celebrates after court docket win in November. Pic: PA
DJ Provai mentioned the band’s motivation was “equality”.
“For us, this action was never about £14,250; it could have been 50p,” he mentioned, after the band mentioned it will donate the funds to 2 Belfast charities.
“This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.”
Calling for deaths of Conservative MPs
Police say they’re assessing a video of a Kneecap efficiency from November 2023, by which a member of the trio allegedly referred to as for the demise of Conservative MPs.
The member is alleged to have mentioned: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
Two British MPs have been murdered prior to now 10 years – Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative Sir David Amess in 2021.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
6:31
MPs daughter requires Kneecap apology on The Sarah-Jane Mee Present
In an announcement, Kneecap mentioned they rejected “any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever.”
They added: “An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.
“To the Amess and Cox households, we ship our heartfelt apologies, we by no means meant to trigger you harm.”
Pro-Palestinian messages at gigs
The investigation into the MP comments was announced several days after the Met said it had referred a different video from a Kneecap gig to be reviewed by counter-terror police.
Footage from that gig, at London’s Kentish Town Forum last November, appeared to show one member of the group shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to express “an opinion or perception that’s supportive of a proscribed organisation”.
The police say they are “assessing” both clips to “decide whether or not additional police investigation is required”.
Kneecap have said they are facing a “co-ordinated smear marketing campaign” after speaking out about “the continuing genocide towards the Palestinian folks”.
Picture:
Kneecap followers at one in all their concert events in 2022. File pic: PA
Of their assertion, they mentioned: “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.
“Kneecap’s message has all the time been – and stays – one in all love, inclusion, and hope. This is the reason our music resonates throughout generations, nations, courses and cultures and has introduced a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals to our gigs.”
Investigation comes after Coachella fallout
Just days before the police investigations were announced, TV personality Sharon Osbourne called for Kneecap’s US work visas to be revoked after accusing them of making “aggressive political statements” including “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech” at Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
As the band performed on the second night, they displayed words on the big screen reading: “Israel is committing genocide towards the Palestinian folks.
“It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F*** Israel. Free Palestine”.
Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, which got here after Hamas gunmen launched an assault killing 1,200 folks in Israel on 7 October 2023, has seen at the very least 52,000 folks killed, in line with the Gaza well being ministry.
Chatting with Rolling Stone after Osbourne’s feedback, Kneecap member Mo Chara mentioned: “Her rant has so many holes in it that it hardly warrants a reply, but she should listen to War Pigs that was written by Black Sabbath [led by Ozzy Osbourne, her husband].”
He additionally informed the outlet: “We believe we have an obligation to use our platform when we can to raise the issue of Palestine, and it was important for us to speak out at Coachella as the USA is the main funder and supplier of weapons to Israel as they commit genocide in Gaza.”
Kneecap has been frequently outspoken in favour of Palestinians at gigs.
In November, DJ Provai arrived for the court docket verdict towards the UK authorities in a car bearing the Irish and Palestinian flags and blaring loud music.
