Entertainment Swindon

Belfast based IRA supporting rap trio hit the national headlines on Monday after a video came to light that one of the group appeared to call for Tory MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.

It was only after numerous negative reports in the media and anger from Katie Amess daughter of Sir David Amess MP and Brandon Cox, husband of Jo Cox MP that the trio put out an apology.

Brendan Cox called the Belfast trio to “take responsibility” going on to call the members of Kneecap “Radical” and called out their “Inciting violence against members of parliament”.

When finally today, the rap trio put out a half hearted apology, which looked like nothing more than saving themselves from being axed from gigs booked this summer to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox, it was too little too late. This is a band that have no love for the UK and the British establishment that glorify the IRA and their well documented use of kneecapping as form of brutal punishment where victims would be shot in both knees at close range. Between 1973 and and 2015, the Northern Ireland Police, formerly known as the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) received reports of 6106 punishment attacks related to terrorism in Northern Ireland.

In a statement of the rap trio’s Instagram today, their attempt at an apology that just deflected blame and called reports and comments against them as a smear campaign using the incriminating video footage exploiting and weaponising against them.

Katie Amess response, dismissed their apology, accusing them of “deflection and excuses and gaslighting”, saying their comments were “absurd” and “not an apology”.

“They don’t understand what they’re talking about, they obviously aren’t educated enough in what they’re speaking about to think that they can use those excuses and everybody will be like, ‘oh, never mind, let’s move on to something else’. They haven’t taken any accountability.

“These words that they are using are extremely dangerous and they have not acknowledged that.

Whilst Brendan Cox response to the trios deflecting attempt of an apology, deflecting with accusations of a smear campaign against the band called on the Belfast trio for a “real apology”

Speaking on Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme on Tuesday, Mr Cox said: “It’s fine to say that you’re sorry for it, but the way that they have actually spoken about it is to suggest that it’s a conspiracy, that they have been targeted unfairly and for me that then doesn’t come across as unfortunately particularly genuine.”

Shockingly, but not surprisingly the government have sat on the fence with an equally half hearted response where the Prime Minister’s official spokesman called the band’s statement “half-hearted” and urged them to make a fuller apology, which is not surprising when it wasn’t that long ago that the Labour Party was actually led by an IRA sympathiser that refused to condemn the bombings and murders conducted by the terrorist organisation when asked on multiple occasions by the press and media.

Whilst Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch gave the right reaction by saying they apologised “because they realise that people don’t like the kind of things that they’ve been saying” and are “worried they’re going to lose their slot at Glastonbury“.

The Eden Project who had booked Kneecap, have seen sense and found where their morals should be and cancelled the gig that was scheduled for 4th July 2025. A spokesperson for Eden Sessions, which organises the gigs at the Cornwall venue, said: “Eden Sessions Limited announced today that the Kneecap show at Eden Project scheduled for July 4th, 2025 has been cancelled.

“Ticket purchasers will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.

“The refund process will commence from Wednesday, April 30 2025. Refunds will be processed against the original payment cards used. Purchasers should allow six working days for funds to be received into their accounts.”

Calls for Kneecap to be removed from performing at this Years Glastonbury have come from the public and several members of parliament, including Tory MP Mark Francois has torn into the government for handing £14,000 of taxpayer cash to a band now accused of calling for the murder of MPs. Kneecap who often shout out in support of the IRA with likes of “Up The RA!” was caught telling an audience in 2023 to “kill your local MP.”

Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, Mark Francois demanded intervention by the government & the Speaker of the House, and showed his fury at the government’s decision to hand £14,000 to the band in the form of a grant.

Rightly so, the Metropolitan Police are now assessing footage from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one member of the group saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP”, along with a video clip from a different concert in November 2024 in which a member of the band appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” – groups which are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.

We have reached out to Glastonbury for a reply, but yet to receive one, lets hope they do right and axe these terrorist sympathisers from the Glastonbury stage!

It is about time we call out this naive attitude from the younger end of the Millennial generation and of course the GenZ generation that seem to applaud this kind of performance and rhetoric that they don’t even understand, because they weren’t even born during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, I really don’t even think they understand this bands rhetoric is sympathetic and supportive of the IRA, a terrorist organisation that murdered not only British Soldiers and members of the public in Northern Ireland, but also on the mainland in England! As long as its an anti establishment anti government rant, it seems that the youth of today will support it, even when they really don’t understand what they are cheering for.

Let’s hope Glastonbury axe these terrorist lovers!