{"id":2202,"date":"2025-07-11T18:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T18:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2202\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T18:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T18:33:03","slug":"kneecap-are-the-rage-against-the-machine-of-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/2202\/","title":{"rendered":"Kneecap Are “the Rage Against the Machine of Now”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Morello<\/a> has praised Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap<\/a> for embodying the spirit of his band Rage Against the Machine<\/a> by \u201cspeak[ing] truth to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

The founding member of Rage Against the Machine made the comparison during his recent appearance on The Strombo Show<\/a>, when he was asked to name young artists who connect with him.<\/p>\n

Get Tom Morello Tickets Here<\/a><\/p>\n

After Morello listed off San Diego rap duo The Neighborhood Kids and CoSign alums Nova Twins<\/a>, host George Stroumboulopoulos asked him about Kneecap. \u201c[They\u2019re at] the top of the list,\u201d Morello responded. \u201cI mean, they\u2019re clearly the Rage Against The Machine of now. Like, there\u2019s them and there\u2019s a gap to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Video<\/p>\n

He then addressed the controversy surrounding Kneecap\u2019s pro-Palestine, anti-Israel messaging at Coachella<\/a> and Glastonbury<\/a>. Following their Coachella performance, the UK police charged band member Mo Chara with a terror offense<\/a> in connection with a previous incident, while their Glastonbury set led to a separate criminal investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re doing in their art is what people could probably stand to do more in their lives: to really speak truth to power. And, you know, Kneecap are not terrorists,\u201d Morello said. \u201cWhat is terroristic is, you know, 20,000 dead Palestinian children. That\u2019s the story. Not some Irish rappers who don\u2019t like that that\u2019s happening. [That] should not be the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the full interview below. The Kneecap segment begins around the 21-minute mark.<\/p>\n

The firestorm around Kneecap began during the first weekend at Coachella, when they led \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and \u201cFuck Margaret Thatcher\u201d chants that were cut from the official livestream. The group doubled down the following weekend by bringing out streamer Hasan Piker to broadcast their protest on Twitch and displaying \u201cFuck Israel, free Palestine\u201d on the screens behind them.<\/p>\n

As part of the ensuing backlash, Sharon Osbourne<\/a> called for Kneecap\u2019s work visas to be rescinded, and several of their concerts were canceled<\/a> in Germany. However, several UK acts, including Massive Attack, Johnny Marr<\/a>, Pulp, English Teacher, and Fontaines D.C., have defended their freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

To avoid a similar situation, the BBC pulled its livestream coverage of Kneecap\u2019s Glastonbury performance hours before they took the stage. Undeterred,\u00a0the group still led chants of \u201cFuck [UK Prime Minister] Keir Starmer\u201d and \u201cFree, free Palestine\u201d during their set.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Morello continues to speak truth to power in his own music. On Thursday, he shared the anti-ICE song \u201cPretend You Remember Me,\u201d<\/a> accompanied by a self-directed video featuring freed political prisoner Leonard Peltier.<\/p>\n

After curating and performing<\/a> during the \u201cBack to the Beginning\u201d<\/a> farewell concert for Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne last weekend, Morello is headed out on a Canadian tour running through late October. Get tickets here<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Morello has praised Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap for embodying the spirit of his band Rage Against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-2202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}