{"id":48872,"date":"2025-08-06T22:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/48872\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T22:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T22:21:11","slug":"line-of-duty-star-adrian-dunbar-gives-verdict-on-kneecap-everybody-got-too-heated-about-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/48872\/","title":{"rendered":"Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar gives verdict on Kneecap: \u2018Everybody got too heated about them\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Line of Duty<\/a> star Adrian Dunbar<\/a> has said people \u201cjumped to conclusions\u201d about rap trio Kneecap<\/a>, who have been in the headlines since one of their members was charged with a terror offence.<\/p>\n

The Belfast group, known for their provocative lyrics and championing of the Irish language, were also banned from entering Hungary to appear at a music festival.<\/p>\n

Kneecap have had several shows cancelled in recent months, including TRNSMT festival in Glasgow and at the Eden Project in Cornwall in July.<\/p>\n

The group has said there is a smear campaign against them because of their support for Palestine<\/a> and criticism of Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"Kneecap:<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Kneecap: Liam Og O Hannaidh (Mo Chara), JJ O Dochartaigh (DJ Provai), and Naoise O Caireallain (Moglai Bap) (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

Dunbar, 67, who recently went to a Kneecap gig with his daughter, was asked if the BBC<\/a> was wrong not to live stream their Glastonbury performance in June.<\/p>\n

He told Times Radio<\/a>: \u201cWere they wrong not to stream it? I think that\u2019s a question for the BBC, not for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I do think that everybody got too heated about them. I think everybody jumped to conclusions about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re a band of good musicians. They make great music. They\u2019re promoting the Irish language. Very clear about who they support and who they don\u2019t support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great time. But those decisions are for the BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dunbar<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Dunbar is best known for his role as Ted Hastings in long-running police drama Line of Duty (PA)<\/p>\n

Glastonbury organisers faced pressure to drop the group from the line-up amid criticism from politicians, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying it would not be \u201cappropriate\u201d for the band to perform.<\/p>\n

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The BBC decided not to live stream their performance but later uploaded the set to BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n

Kneecap \u2013 comprised of Liam Og O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh \u2013 were formed in Belfast and released their first single in 2017.<\/p>\n

They hit headlines in April when footage emerged that appeared to show a band member saying \u201cKill your local MP\u201d at one gig and and \u201cUp Hamas, up Hezbollah\u201d at another.<\/p>\n

In May, O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offence relating to allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a London gig in November 2024.<\/p>\n

O hAnnaidh and his bandmates were cheered by hundreds of supporters when they arrived at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on June 18.<\/p>\n

Musicians including Nadine Shah and Gurriers have said they will attend court to support the group when O hAnnaidh returns on August 20.<\/p>\n

Kneecap have apologised to the families of murdered MPs and said they have \u201cnever supported\u201d Hamas or Hezbollah, which are banned in the UK.<\/p>\n

They were also investigated over their set at Glastonbury in June, but Avon and Somerset Police said they would be taking no further action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-48872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}