Fast-rising Belfast rap trio Kneecap made their debut US TV appearance with an appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night.
Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, who kick off their North American tour in Philadelphia on 18 March and release their debut album Fine Art in June, performed their new single Sick in The Head on the late-night chat show.
It follows their controversial recent appearance on RTÉ's Late Late Show when DJ Próvaí wore a pro-Palestine football jersey and the band sported pro-Palestine watermelon badges amid the on-going Israel/Palestine war, despite a request from the show’s producers not to break broadcasting rules about impartiality.
A spokesperson for RTÉ said that prior to the show, Kneecap's management told producers that the band would be wearing badges in support of Palestine.
Irish language on Jimmy Fallon for the first time 🔥
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) March 8, 2024
📺 11.30pm Eastern US time. pic.twitter.com/aqTWnEi0nH
Speaking to the Irish Star ahead of their Jimmy Fallon appearance, the band admitted they "won't get away with anything" during their US TV debut.
"It's pre-recorded so we'll not get away with [saying] anything because it's not live," Móglaí Bap. It's very hard for people to stop you on live TV. We got away with it on the Late Late Show.
"We'll always use our platform to try and educate people because, in America especially, the media are very one-sided, with Fox News and all that stuff.
"We don't think it's an outrageous thing to be against people being bombed from the sky. For some people that sounds like a far-out idea but for us, it seems the rational thing to do.
"There were only two complaints made against the Late Late Show about us and I think that sums up how the people of Ireland feel about Palestine and what the atmosphere is like around it."
Mo Chara added: "People are making out as if it was some big controversial thing but I think the war in Palestine is a lot more controversial than us speaking out against it. It's obvious when you think about it."
The trio’s self-titled film starring Michael Fassbender recently made history by becoming the first-ever language movie to premiere at the famous Sundance Film Festival.
The band arrived at Sundance on a PSNI land rover with "Kneecap" spray painted on the side
Speaking about Michelle O'Neill becoming the first ever Nationalist First Minister, Móglaí Bap told the Irish Star, "We hope the government will be a lot more productive this time round. People understand now they can't slander the Irish language or use it as some sort of weapon to push out unionists in the north.
"The Irish language was a big part of the Presbyterian culture in the north so hopefully Michelle O'Neill and Emma Pengilly will bring about change that's needed especially in the working class and Shankill areas.
"There are less support systems and more depravity in the Protestant and working-class areas compared to the republican areas."
Móglaí Bap also spoke about the likelihood of a united Ireland, saying, continued: "I don't think it would have been very realistic before Brexit but now you have Northern Irish farmers considering a United Ireland because of the subsidies Irish farmers would get under the EU.
"I think things are changing economically and people are considering other options."
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