![\"Kneecap](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0022e237-614.jpg\"\/)
\nKneecap<\/p>\n
Northern Irish actor Adrian Dunbar has said people “jumped to conclusions” about Belfast rap trio Kneecap, who have been in the headlines since one of their members was charged with a terror offence.<\/p>\n
The group, known for their provocative lyrics and championing of the Irish language, were also banned from entering Hungary recently where they were due 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 and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\nKneecap<\/p>\n
Line Of Duty actor Dunbar, 67, who recently went to a Kneecap gig with his daughter, was asked if the BBC was wrong not to live stream their Glastonbury performance in June.<\/p>\n
He told Times Radio: “Were they wrong not to stream it? I think that\u2019s a question for the BBC, not for me.<\/p>\n
“But I do think that everybody got too heated about them. I think everybody jumped to conclusions about them.<\/p>\n
“I 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
“We had a great time. But those decisions are for the BBC.”<\/p>\n
Glastonbury organisers faced pressure to drop the group from the line-up amid criticism from politicians, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying it would not be “appropriate” for the band to perform.<\/p>\n
The BBC decided not to live stream their performance but later uploaded the set to BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n
Kneecap – comprised of Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, Naoise \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in and J. J. \u00d3 Dochartaigh – 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 “Kill your local MP” at one gig and and “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at another.<\/p>\n
In May, \u00d3 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
\u00d3 hAnnaidh and his bandmates were cheered by hundreds of supporters when they arrived at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on 18 June.<\/p>\n
Musicians including Nadine Shah and Irish band Gurriers have said they will attend court to support the group when \u00d3 hAnnaidh returns on 20 August.<\/p>\n
Kneecap have apologised to the families of murdered MPs and said they have “never supported” 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
Source: Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northern Irish actor Adrian Dunbar has said people “jumped to conclusions” about Belfast rap trio Kneecap, who have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-49249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49249","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=49249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}