'Why should I regret it': Kneecap claps back at criticism and releases film with Gaza surgeons ahead of Glastonbury 2025

Kneecap stays strong on their pro-Palestine stance ahead of Glastonbury 2025.

Hip hop trio Kneecap have often used their art to express their political stances, whether on stage or online, and they have received criticism for the same. Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is better known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offense for displaying a Hezbollah flag on stage and had to appear in court for his actions.

In an interview with The Guardian, he was asked if he regretted any comments made onstage, to which he retorted,

“It’s a joke. I’m a character. S*** is thrown on stage all the time. If I’m supposed to know every f***ing thing that’s thrown on stage. I don’t know every proscribed organisation – I’ve got enough s*** to worry about up there. I’m thinking about my next lyric, my next joke, the next drop of a beat.”

This all came into view after the Irish origin group shared anti-Israel and pro-Palestine messages during their Coachella performance. After they started receiving criticisms for displaying those messages, videos of their gigs from November 2024 and November 2023 started resurfacing, showing Mo Chara saying, “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” as well as a band member allegedly saying,

“The only good Tory is a dead Tory, kill your local MP.”

Facing charges for these actions, he defended himself, saying,

“Why should I regret it? It was a joke”. He further stated that Kneecap’s opponents “went and combed through eight years of a career… they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel,” and that they “took those videos out of context. The point is, that video wasn’t an issue until we said ‘Free Palestine’ at Coachella.”

Kneecap releases film with Gaza surgeons

The group was also responsible for releasing a film that includes testimonies from a Palestinian activist and plastic surgeon on the genocide in Gaza. The film titled Stop The Genocide came ahead of their Glastonbury set. In a post, the group then explained that the video, titled

"See It. Say It. Censored,"sis an “artist-led alternative PSA presented by Kneecap that demands urgent action to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza."

They further added, “Created by a coalition of artists and powered by the testimony of medics and activists, the film builds on reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN agencies, to lay out the facts and call for vital action.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not think it would be “appropriate” for them to perform after their actions and the one member's terror offense; however, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis retorted with the fact that those who did not agree with the festival's politics could go elsewhere.

Eavis expressed,

“There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”

The film features Plastic surgeon Dr. Rossel Morhij and Emergency physician James Smith, who share how they had to amputate limbs with blunt instruments and how aid distribution centers are becoming killing fields. Palestinian activist Ghassen Ghaben shared how his cousins were killed while getting food for their children.

Kneecap's Mo Chara narrates the video as he sets out what "the Israeli government told you what they were gonna do."

He further adds, "We didn't choose solidarity. We've lived under occupation. We know that silence is death."

According to The Guardian, the group also believes it's their political stance that is helping them gain bigger crowds and fame in their music career.

“The genocide in Palestine is a big reason we’re getting such big crowds at our gigs, because we are willing to put that message out there," Ó hAnnaidh added.

Stating the intentions behind the criticisms they have received, as well as getting charged in such a major manner, he adds,

"We knew exactly that this was going to happen, maybe not to the extreme that it has, but we knew that the Israeli lobbyists and the American government weren’t going to stand by idly while we spoke to thousands of young Americans who agree with us. They don’t want us coming to the American festivals, because they don’t want videos of young Americans chanting ‘free Palestine’, that is the actual belief in America. They just want to suppress it.”

Kneecap is set to play Glastonbury’s West Holts stage at 4 pm on Saturday.

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