{"id":4877,"date":"2025-04-29T18:40:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/irish-rappers-kneecap-deny-supporting-hamas-and-hezbollah-apologize-for-remarks-about-killing-politicians\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T18:40:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T18:40:03","slug":"irish-rappers-kneecap-deny-supporting-hamas-and-hezbollah-apologize-for-remarks-about-killing-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/irish-rappers-kneecap-deny-supporting-hamas-and-hezbollah-apologize-for-remarks-about-killing-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish rappers Kneecap deny supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, apologize for remarks about killing politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Irish rappers Kneecap have denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah and publicly apologized to the families of two murdered British lawmakers as the hip-hop trio continue to face public backlash for political views they’ve expressed at their concerts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“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,” the band said in a statement posted Monday on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kneecap’s statement came after U.K. police said that they were investigating video related to a Kneecap concert from 2024 in which one of the band’s members appears to shout, “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hamas and\u00a0Hezbollah<\/a><\/span>, both currently engaged in\u00a0fighting with Israel<\/a><\/span>, are designated as terrorist groups by the U.S., Israel and European Union. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The British and Irish governments have roundly condemned the language used by the Kneecap members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Members of the band Kneecap including Mo Chara and Moglai Bap perform onstage during Day 1 of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 18, 2025 in Indio, California.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Scott Dudelson\/Getty Images for Coachella<\/p>\n

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Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Republic of Ireland’s leader Miche\u00e1l Martin said that support for Hamas or Hezbollah is “unacceptable” and asked Kneecap to urgently clarify their views. A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that he condemned the group’s remarks “in the strongest possible terms.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.K. police also said they were reviewing video from a concert in 2023 in which one Kneecap member appears to call for killing Conservative party lawmakers, who are often known as Tories, by saying on stage: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those comments have been sharply criticized by the families of two British lawmakers who were murdered in recent years. The families of Conservative Member of Parliament David Amess<\/a><\/span>, who was stabbed by an ISIS supporter in 2021, and Labour Party MP Jo Cox<\/a><\/span>, who was shot and stabbed multiple times by a neo-Nazi sympathizer, called for a public apology from the group,\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the same statement in which the group denied supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, Kneecap addressed that criticism and said: “To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brendan Cox, the husband of the late Jo Cox, called the group’s statement “only half an apology.”<\/p>\n

“It’s fine to say that you’re sorry for it, but the way that they have actually spoken about it is to suggest that it’s a conspiracy, that they have been targeted unfairly, and for me, that then doesn’t come across as unfortunately particularly genuine,” he told CBS News’ partner network BBC Radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest controversies circling the hip-hop trio come after the group faced intense scrutiny for remarks they made while performing at Coachella earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Messages were displayed on a screen behind the band as it performed, including: “F**k Israel,” “Free Palestine” and “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”<\/p>\n

Sharon Osbourne, the wife of former Black Sabbath front-man Ozzy Osbourne and a former host of the U.S. talk show The Talk, took to social media to call for the band to have their U.S. work visas revoked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Osborne criticized the band’s “aggressive political statements” and said that Kneecap had turned Coachella “into a Hamas fan club.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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