Music / News
Massive Attack: ‘Kneecap are not the story, Gaza is the story, genocide is the story’
Massive Attack have spoken out following sustained political and media pressure on venues and festivals to cancel performances by Kneecap.
A show by the Irish language hip-hop trio at the Eden Project in Cornwall was recently pulled following criticism of comments in which the Belfast trio appear to call for politicians to be killed.
Plymouth Pavilions swiftly stepped in to host Kneecap on the same day of the cancelled Eden Sessions show.
Kneecap have apologised to the family of murdered MPs Jo Cox and David Amess and have denied allegations they have shown support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Security minister Dan Jarvis and Conservative former minister Mark Francois are among parliamentarians calling for the group to not play at Glastonbury Festival.
Kneecap called to ‘free Palestine’ at their show at SWX in Bristol in November 2024: Hannah Massoudi
In their statement, Bristol band Massive Attack said: “If senior politicians can find neither the time, nor the words to condemn, say, the murder of 15 voluntary aid workers in Gaza, or the illegal starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, or the killing of thousands and thousands of children in the same territory, by a state in possession of the highest precision weapons on earth; how much notice should a music festival take of their moral advice on booking performing acts?
“As a band that has spoken publicly for more than 30 years about the illegal occupation, apartheid system and killing with impunity of thousands of Palestinians, we are hyper aware of the both the human cost of abject political silence, and the commercial implications of publicly expressing solidarity with an oppressed people.
“Language matters of course. The hideous murders of elected politicians Jo Cox and David Amess means there’s no scope for flippancy or recklessness.
“But do politicians and right-wing journalists strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage utterings of a young punk band, while simultaneously obfuscating or even ignoring a genocide happening in real time including the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers) have any right to intimidate festival events into acts of political censorship?
“Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story. And the silence, acquiescence and support of those crimes against humanity by the elected British government is the real story.
“Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people.”
Massive Attack’s stage shows have regularly highlighted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – photo: Allen Kiely
Main photos: Darren Clarke / Kneecap
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