KNEECAP have apologised to the families of two murdered MPs after footage emerged of one of the rap band's concerts in 2023 where one member appeared to say: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP."
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that he did not think "individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding".
Yesterday Taoiseach Micheál Martin also called for clarification after another video appeared to show a band member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” during a concert in London in November last year.
A Met Police spokesperson said: "We were made aware of a video on 22 April, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.
"We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023."
In a statement Kneecap apologised to the families of Conservative MP David Amess who was murdered in 2021 and Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered in 2016.
"To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt," the band's statement said.
The band added: "Kneecap’s message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs. No smear campaign will change that."
The band said that "establishment figures" have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, "extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria".
"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. We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.
"This distortion is not only absurd – it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation. All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel. At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed. The British government continues to supply arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS doctors warned Keir Starmer in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head.
"Instead of defending innocent people or the principles of international law, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine. This is where real anger and outrage should be directed towards.
"Suddenly, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain. The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power. Shame on them."
