June 9, 2024: Móglaí Bap, Dj Provaí, and Mo Chara of Kneecap attend the "Kneecap" Premiere during the 2024 Tribeca Festival at Village East Cinema in New York City. Getty Images

Kneecap, the Irish language hip hop trio from Belfast, has issued a new statement - and an apology - as the controversy surrounding their support for Palestine continues to simmer.

The trio made headlines over the past week after they projected a message that accused Israel of genocide in Palestine and the US of funding it during their Coachella set - their second, having also performed a week earlier - on Friday, April 18.

"F--k Israel, free Palestine," the message said.

Kneecap's manager told RTÉ afterward that the group had received death threats after Coachella.

Kneecap - Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (Mo Chara), Naoise Ó Cairealláin (Móglaí Bap), and JJ Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Próvaí) - was reportedly dropped by their booking agent in between the first and second weekend of Coachella, which is understood to have threatened their work visas.

Last Friday, a week after their second Coachella performance, the Irish language trio said they were "taking action" after what they called a "coordinated smear campaign."

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Meanwhile, a video from Novembr 2024 has re-emerged of the group saying on stage, "up Hamas, up Hezbollah," while a separate video from April 2023 shows the band saying, "the only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP!” 

Both instances were during gigs in the UK.

The Metropolitan Police in the UK said on Monday that they are "assessing" both videos to see if further action is needed.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday: “The PM absolutely rejects and condemns those remarks [from Kneecap] and does not think organisations such as that should be receiving government funding.”

Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin also said on Monday: “I think what would benefit the entire conversation is of Kneecap were to clarify really urgently their position in respect of Hezbollah, for example, and in respect of Hamas, and also their very clear denunciation of any violence or threat of violence against public representatives.”

Meanwhile, Kneecap says they have sold out several international shows in recent days, including their 19-date tour of the US and Canada set for this October.

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Kneecap's latest statement

"They want you to believe words are more harmful than genocide," Kneecap said in a social media blast on Monday night, April 28.

"Establishment figures, desperate to silence us, have combed through hundreds of hours of footage and interviews, extracting a handful of words from months or years ago to manufacture moral hysteria.

"Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation's history.

"We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.

"This distortion is not only absurd - it is a transparent effort to derail the real conversation.

"All two million Palestinian people in Gaza are currently being starved to death by Israel.

"At least 20,000 children in Gaza have been killed. The British government continues to supply arms to Israel, even after scores of NHS doctors warned Keir Starmer in August that children were being systematically executed with sniper shots to the head.

"Instead of defending innocent people or the principles of international law, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine.

"This is where real anger and outrage should be directed towards.

"To the Amess and Cox families, we send our heartfelt apologies, we never intended to cause you hurt.

[Conservative MP Andrew Amess was murdered in 2021, and Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered in 2016.]

"Kneecap’s message has always been — and remains — one of love, inclusion, and hope. This is why our music resonates across generations, countries, classes and cultures and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our gigs.

"No smear campaign will change that.

 "Suddenly, days after calling out the US administration at Coachella to applause and solidarity, there is an avalanche of outrage and condemnation by the political classes of Britain.

"The real crimes are not in our performances; the real crimes are the silence and complicity of those in power.

"Shame on them."