“They Won’t Stop Us From Speaking Out”
Kneecap talks to Jacobin about attempts to punish the hip-hop trio for its vocal stance on Palestine and its hopes for a unified Ireland.
Glastonbury Festival attendees hold aloft Welsh and Irish flags at a Kneecap performance. Presumably some are supporters of a unified Ireland, like Kneecap’s own members.(Samir Hussein / WireImage)
By the time Kneecap’s second album, Fine Art, and their self-titled film broke them out beyond Belfast in 2024, the Irish-language hip-hop trio had already built a reputation for gleeful provocation. But 2025 turned provocation into political confrontation. After denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide on major festival stages, Kneecap faced revoked US visas, canceled European shows, and a British terror investigation over archival performance footage.
Rather than retreat, the band doubled down, selling out UK tour dates and embracing their role as a lightning rod in a widening fight over Palestine, free speech, and cultural dissent. In an interview for Jacobin, Alexander Kloss spoke to Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí of Kneecap to discuss their relationship with the UK, Gaza, Irish unification, and the band’s future in uncertain times.
Alexander Kloss
In your single “The Recap,” you lampoon Tory opposition leader Kemi Badenoch, who tried to block a grant you received from the UK government last year because Kneecap “opposes the United Kingdom itself.” How would you describe your relationship with the UK?
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