Keir Starmer says Kneecap Glastonbury set 'not appropriate'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he does not think Kneecap's planned Glastonbury Festival performance is 'appropriate'.
Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh appeared in court on Wednesday, after being charged for allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year.
In an interview with The Sun, Sir Keir was asked if he thought the trio should perform at Glastonbury, to which he replied: 'No, I don't, and I think we need to come down really clearly on this.
'This is about the threats that shouldn't be made, I won't say too much because there's a court case on, but I don't think that's appropriate.'
His comments come after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a post on X, with an article from The Times that claimed the BBC had not banned the group: 'The BBC should not be showing Kneecap propaganda.
'One Kneecap band member is currently on bail, charged under the Terrorism Act.
'As a publicly funded platform, the BBC should not be rewarding extremism.'
Badenoch has previously called for the group to be banned from Glastonbury, and last year Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after she tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister.
In their latest single, The Recap, released just before their headine set at London's Wide Awake festival in May, the trio took aim at the Tory leader mocking her failed attempts to block their arts funding and the party's election loss.
On Wednesday, O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in 'Free Mo Chara' T-shirts.
During the proceedings, a prosecutor told the court the 27-year-old is 'well within his rights' to voice his opinions on Israel and Palestine, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, is a 'wholly different thing'.
O hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing at the same court on August 20.
Following the hearing, the rapper said: 'For anybody going to Glastonbury, you can see us there at 4pm on the Saturday.
'If you can't be there we'll be on the BBC, if anybody watches the BBC. We'll be at Wembley in September.
'But most importantly: free, free Palestine.'
A BBC spokesperson said: 'As the broadcast partner, the BBC will be bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
'Whilst the BBC doesn't ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines. Decisions about our output will be made in the lead-up to the festival.'
The terror charge came following a counter-terrorism police investigation after the historical gig footage came to light, which also allegedly shows the group calling for the deaths of MPs.
In April, Kneecap apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'.
In an initial post in response to the charge, Kneecap said: '14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us.
'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction.
'We are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective?
'To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out.
'Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification.
'The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.'
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