Irish hip-hop group Kneecap drew headlines during their weekend two performance at Coachella 2025, but not for the reasons a buzzing band typically claims. The group performed in the Sonora tent in front of large screens that projected references to genocide, denouncements of Israel and calls to “free Palestine.” Their set on April 18 also condemned the U.S. for its military support of Israel.
While the Coachella music festival is no stranger to political statements made onstage, this call to “Fuck Israel” has incensed Jewish groups who are calling out the fest’s promoter Goldenvoice (a subsidiary of AEG) for its part in booking the band, which has been known to espouse the ideology of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Kneecap followed up its Coachella set on social media with numerous video posts about their “uncensored messaging” and a request for young Americans to send the clips to President Trump, whom they called a derogatory term that starts with a c.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to AEG for comment. According to insiders, Paul Tollett, CEO of Goldenvoice, was said to be “blindsided” by the band’s action. “Paul is a good man and has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of survivors of the Nova Music Festival,” Scooter Braun wrote on his Instagram Sunday following Kneecap’s set, noting that Tollett had attended the Los Angeles memorial exhibit Braun created honoring the hundreds who lost their lives in the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel. “He not only attended the exhibit but stayed for five hours and then sat with survivors.”
The Sonora tent did not livestream its weekend 2 acts, which some suggest may have been intentional knowing the band may take the opportunity to convey an incendiary message. For its weekend 1 performance, the stream cut off before the set’s end.
Kneecap were formed in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2017, and have long been a controversial and vocally political group. The group consists of vocalists Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap and the DJ Próvaí. They are strongly associated with Irish Republicanism, the movement calling for the reunification of Ireland away from British rule. Kneecap broke through in 2018 with their debut single “C.E.A.R.T.A.,” which is Irish for “rights.” They released their debut studio album 3CAG that year, and their second album Fine Art through Heavenly Recordings in 2024.
Last week, Kneecap had claimed that the festival had censored their pro-Palestine messages as well as their anti-Margaret Thatcher chant. “Back next Friday Coachella and it’ll be sorted,” the band tweeted last week along with an emoji for the Palestinian flag.
A week later, they doubled down with their onscreen “fuck Israel, free Palestine” declarations and a “free, free Palestine” chant during the set, adding that “the Irish are not so longer persecuted under the Brits, but we were never bombed under the fucking skies with nowhere to go.”
In the past few years, the Sonora Tent, the smallest tent onsite, has become home to the punkier artists on the bill. Kneecap’s late afternoon set during weekend one was buzzy, as there was an line spilling out the door. The room was full and full of energy, reminiscent of the powder keg vibe of early Odd Future shows.f
During weekend one, the group played in minimal light, obscuring their faces entirely. Their logo, a pair of intense eyes, were on the screen throughout. The Sonora tent is entirely enclosed, so it felt more like a club show than a festival set. The group did mention Palestine a few times the first week, but it was more of a typical political statement than one of hate — they riled up the crowd with it without it overtaking the set.
The Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit comprised of entertainment industry professionals, shared a statement Sunday detailing its efforts to reach out to Goldenvoice and AEG ahead of Kneecap’s week 2 show. The group urged the organizers to cancel noting the group’s previous support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. CCFP’s executive director Ari Ingel called on venues and promoters to boycott the band, and called for the group’s visas to be revoked as well.
“Festivals such as Coachella are meant to bring people together to celebrate music and life, instead they allowed the festival to devolve into a forum of hate — platforming a band that praised a terrorist group that carried out the largest massacre in music history,” Ingel said. “At a time of record levels of antisemitism, it is outrageous that AEG and Goldenvoice allowed this to happen.”
The Nova Community also issued a statement, which read, in part:
“This past weekend at Coachella, the band Kneecap shared messaging that deeply hurt many in our community — an affront made even more painful in light of the massacre that took place at the Nova Music Festival on October 7. The Nova community was built on the ideals of peace, freedom, and unity through music. Our festival was a space where people came together — across cultures and beliefs — to celebrate life. That’s why we believe that even in the face of ignorance or provocation, our response must be rooted in empathy, not hate. … We invite the members of Kneecap to visit the Nova Exhibition and experience firsthand the stories of those who were murdered, those who survived, and those who are still being held hostage. Not to shame or silence — but to connect. To witness. To understand. … Healing begins with listening. And we believe that even those who have spoken from a place of anger or misinformation are capable of empathy — if they are willing to see.”
Kneecap has garnered renown beyond the music world in film. The trio starred alongside Michael Fassbender and portrayed themselves in a breezy eponymous biopic that THR called a “cheeky Irish rap comedy.” The “irreverent origin story” premiered at Sundance in 2024 as the festival’s first Irish language film — set in 2019, Kneecap takes place in the Gaeltacht, or Irish-speaking, quarter of West Belfast — and was shortlisted for two Oscars, best international feature and best original song for “Sick in the Head.” Kneecap went on to win four out of ten crafts categories at the British Independent Film Awards. and was nominated for five BAFTAs, the British Oscars, winning outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for writer-director Rich Peppiatt.
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