August 22, 2024: Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh - aka Mo Chara - at a preview and Q&A for "Kneecap" at BFI Southbank in London, England.Getty Images

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, one third of the Belfast-based Irish language hip hop trio Kneecap, has been charged with a terrorism offence following an investigation by the UK Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

Ó hAnnaidh, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged, via postal requisition, with displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed organisation, the UK's Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday, May 21.

Police allege that on November 21, 2024, Ó hAnnaidh displayed a flag "in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hizballah, contrary to section 13(1)(b) and (3) of the Terrorism Act 2000."

Police say the alleged incident occurred at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town in London.

Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command were made aware of an online video from the event on Tuesday, April 22, prompting an investigation which has now led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorizing the charge.

Ó hAnnaidh is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, June 18, police said.

At the time of publication on Wednesday evening, Kneecap had not issued a formal statement in response to the charge.

However, on his personal Instagram page, Ó hAnnaidh shared a post that said: "The irony of @Kneecap32 being charged with terror offences by the people who are complicit in genocide is baffling. Free Palestine."

Ó hAnnaidh captioned the post "some people are sick in the head," a nod to one of the band's biggest songs, "Sick in the Head."

Ó hAnnaidh and his Kneecap bandmates Naoise Ó Cairealláin (aka Móglaí Bap) and J. J. Ó Dochartaigh (aka DJ Próvaí) were the focus of heated discussion in recent weeks following their second performance at this year's Coachella music festival.

At the close of their set on April 25  - the group's second at Coachella, having also performed a week earlier - they projected a message on the stage that said: "Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

"It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.

"F--k Israel. Free Palestine."

Also during the set, Ó hAnnaidh told the huge audience: "The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the f--king skies with nowhere to go.

"The Palestinians have nowhere to go. It's their f--king home and they're bombing them from the skies.

"If you're not calling it a genocide, what the f--k are you calling it?"

Amidst cheers from the crowd, Ó hAnnaidh then led the audience in chants of "Free, free Palestine."

Kneecap 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.

The Belfast-based Irish language hip hop trio said they received "hundreds of violent Zionist threats" following their Coachella gig, with their manager Daniel Lambert later telling RTÉ that the group received death threats.

As the controversy bubbled, a video from November 2024 re-emerged on social media 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.

In a statement on April 25, Kneecap said they were "taking action" after what they described as a "smear campaign" following their Coachella gig.

In another statement issued three days later, Kneecap said they 'unequivocally' do not support Hamas or Hezbollah and never have.

They also apologized to the families of Conservative MP Andrew Amess, who was murdered in 2021, and Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016.

The statement concluded: "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."

Since then, more than 100 music acts, including the likes of Christy Moore and Damien Dempsey, signed their names to a letter issued by Heavenly Recordings in support of Kneecap, saying in part, "We stand for freedom of expression."

The statement was issued the same day that Eden Sessions, a music festival in Cornwall, announced that Kneecap had been dropped from its lineup this July. This comes among calls, including from British politicians, for Kneecap to be dropped from other music festivals, including Glastonbury and TRNSMT.

The day after the letter began to circulate, the UK's Metropolitan Police confirmed that two videos of Kneecap "were referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos."

Meanwhile, Kneecap has enjoyed a bump in the music charts and continues to sell out international concert dates.