The manager of the Irish rap group Kneecap has said the band is being targeted by a "concerted campaign" designed to silence artists who speak out about the situation in Gaza.
It comes as Kneecap's planned performance at the Eden Project in Cornwall was cancelled earlier today, and British MPs in the UK House of Commons questioned whether an expected appearance at Glastonbury should go ahead.
The Belfast trio have been criticised in recent days after a video emerged from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one member saying: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP."
Other footage also circulated online from an event in November 2024 which showed a member of the band shouting "up Hamas, up Hezbollah."
The Palestinian group Hamas and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah are both banned and listed as terrorist organisations in the UK.
Both videos were circulated extensively online in the wake of Kneecap's appearance at the major US festival Coachella in recent weeks, where they displayed imagery saying 'F*ck Israel, Free Palestine.’
Speaking with Prime Time about the recent controversy, Kneecap’s manager, Daniel Lambert, said "the last few days have been very challenging."
"At every point [the band members] have the absolute conviction that they are doing the right thing and they stand on the right side of history."
"A video didn't emerge," he said, "there was a concerted campaign emanating from the US to analyse every single thing that Kneecap has ever said."
"Why this happened was because of what they said at Coachella, and what they said at Coachella was the right thing to say. It's something we've said at Leeds, Reading, Glastonbury, in Dublin, in Belfast."
Pressed by Miriam O'Callaghan on whether it was appropriate for anyone to say ‘Up Hamas’ in any context, given that many Palestinians are victims of the group also, Mr Lambert argued that the broader political context is being ignored.
"We’re in the space now of moral hysteria and moral outrage, and you’ve a band being held to higher moral account than politicians who are ignoring international law."
"Why are the Palestinians where they are today? They’re where they are because there’s been a wholesale denial of their rights as human beings," he added.
Kneecap had earlier released a statement partially addressed to the families of former Conservative MP David Amess, who was stabbed to death in 2021, and Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in 2016.
In reference to controversy around band members saying ‘the only good Tory is a dead Tory, kill your local MP,’ the statement said "we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt."
The daughter of Conservative MP Mr Amess said the group was ‘gas-lighting’ and police should investigate the footage.
Mr Lambert rejected claims that the band had incited violence against politicians, saying the remark was taken out of context.
"The idea that that was incitement of violence against an MP is ludicrous. It was taken entirely out of context. They are performers, it was part of a performance. If you were to look at dozens of comedians globally, and take six words out of a comedy act and then lay it out, you could do that to dozens of people..." he said.
Asked if the band were worried about their upcoming performance at Glastonbury festival, Mr Lambert said: "It's not for us to worry. It's for us to have the strength and conviction that we did the right thing."
"What led to this campaign is the reaction of young people in America — young people who aren’t willing to support a genocide and who have empathy and sympathy for the Palestinian people."
"It’s solely about deplatforming artists. It’s about telling the next young band — through the music industry and through the political class — that you cannot speak about Palestine," he added.
