Irish rappers Kneecap have denied supporting a proscribed group and vowed to “vehemently defend ourselves” after a member of the band was charged with a terror offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert.
On Thursday, UK police said Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 27, had been charged under the Terrorism Act with displaying a flag in support of a proscribed organisation.
The alleged offence happened at the Kentish Town Forum, a London concert venue, on 21 November 2024.
The force said the musician — whose stage name is Mo Chara and whom police referred to by the English spelling of his name, Liam O’Hanna — was charged by postal requisition and is due in court on 18 June.
“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction,” Kneecap said in a post on X on Thursday.
In its statement, the band attacked the “establishment” for trying to focus attention elsewhere while the population of Gaza suffered.
The charge follows growing scrutiny of Kneecap’s performances after footage circulated online showing provocative political statements made by the band on stage.
One video appeared to show a band member shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Those groups, in Gaza and in Lebanon, are banned as terror organisations in the United Kingdom, and it is a crime to express support for them.
Police are still investigating footage from another Kneecap concert in November 2023.
Debate around artistic expression and censorship
The band, known for its confrontational style and Irish nationalist messaging, has denied supporting violence or banned groups.
It said video footage had been “deliberately taken out of context”.
The backlash led to the cancellation of several of the group’s shows, including in south-west England and Germany.
The group’s songs include Get Your Brits Out and Better Way To Live.
The controversy has sparked a wider debate about artistic expression and political censorship.
The family of Conservative MP David Amess, who was fatally stabbed by a follower of the self-proclaimed Islamic State group in 2021, called for an apology, while the party leader, Kemi Badenoch, called for the band to be banned.
In a statement in April, the band denied promoting extremist views and apologised to the families of Amess and Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016 by a neo-Nazi sympathiser a week before the Brexit referendum.
“We do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” the group said.
Nearly 40 musicians and groups, including Pulp, Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Massive Attack, have publicly backed Kneecap, accusing authorities of suppressing creative freedom.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin had urged the band to clarify whether they supported the groups or not.