Kneecap: Irish Hip-Hop Group’s Coachella Controversy Explained

Kneecap has been making headlines for a number of years, but the hip-hop group’s latest appearance at Coachella has caught the attention of the world.

The Belfast-based group performed on both weekends at the California festival. As has become custom for their shows, their performances included heavy political messaging about the conflict in Gaza.

While Coachella organizers attempted to censor the band after the first weekend by removing their set from the festival’s livestream, this only increased interest in the performance.

Here’s everything you need to know about the band and what’s happened since their Coachella performance.

Kneecap is known for provocative lyrics and outspoken political views

The band, which formed in 2017, is made up of rappers Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí, who rap in both English and Irish.

The band’s “shows and tracks flip between satirical performance art and rampageous raves,” reads their Spotify biography.

In 2025, their semi-autobiographical film, “Kneecap,” won the BAFTA for outstanding debut, recognizing the work of first-time director Rich Peppiatt. In the film, Chara, Bap, and DJ Próvaí played versions of themselves alongside Michael Fassbender.

The Irish Times reports that the band’s debut song “C.E.A.R.T.A.” was inspired by a run-in with the police after Bap and his friend were caught spray-painting the word, which is Irish for “rights,” on a bus stop. While Bap wasn’t arrested, his friend was, and he spent a night in police custody waiting for a Gaeilge-English translator as he refused to speak in English to the police officers on duty.

Since releasing their debut album in 2018, the band has been the center of several other controversies. Notably, they became involved in a legal battle with the UK government in 2024 after they were awarded a $18,970 (£14,250) music industry grant but were later blocked because of their creative output, which regularly promotes Irish republicanism and opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland. The group filed a discrimination lawsuit against the UK government, which they won.

While performing in Australia in March, the band brought onstage the head of a statue of George V, which had been removed from a park in Victoria during a series of protests against colonial monuments in 2024.

Kneecap made their debut performance at Coachella on April 11

The band performed on both weekends of the festival, with both performances featuring political messaging voiced by the band and projected onto the screens behind them. NME reported that during their first performance, the trio led the audience in a chant about the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which was censored from the livestream on the festival’s official YouTube page.

The band responded to the article on X, saying it was “not the only thing that was cut,” as they also included messaging regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict in their set.

At the end of their show during the second weekend of Coachella on April 18, which the organizers did not stream, three messages appeared on the screens behind the band.

“Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. Fuck Israel; free Palestine.”

During the performance, the band led the audience in chants of “Free, free Palestine.”

Kneecap was not the only artist at Coachella who shared political messaging about the war in Gaza at the festival. Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong altered the lyrics of “Jesus of Suburbia” and sang “Runnin’ away from pain, like the kids from Palestine (the original line is: “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized”).

Bob Vylan and Blonde Redhead, two of the festival’s smaller acts, displayed the Palestinian flag during their sets, according to video footage taken by attendees.

Kneecap faces a wave of criticism over their Coachella performances

One prominent industry figure who spoke out against Kneecap was Sharon Osbourne, the wife and manager of Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne.

In a lengthy post on X on April 22, she criticized Goldenvoice, the festival organizer, as it had allowed “artists to use the Coachella stage as a platform for political expression” and said that the 2025 festival will be remembered “as a festival that compromised its moral and spiritual integrity.” The Hollywood Reporter reported that Goldenvoice was “blindsided” by the messaging in Kneecap’s set.

Osbourne also called out Green Day, which headlined the Saturday evening of the festival on both weekends, stating that their inclusion of pro-Palestinian sentiments “would have been more appropriate at their own concert, not at a festival.”

She found more fault with Kneecap, stating that the band “took their performance to a different level by incorporating aggressive political statements.” She asked her followers to join in her “advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa.”

The next day, it was reported that the Metropolitan Police in the UK were assessing a video taken at a Kneecap concert in London in November 2024, which had been published on social media.

The BBC reported that the footage appeared to show a member of the group shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” while draped in a Hezbollah flag.

The two militant groups are considered terrorist organizations by the UK, and expressing support for either is forbidden under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that it had been made aware of the video and had been “referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.”

Kneecap responds to the Coachella fallout

Chara, whose real name is Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, told Rolling Stone in an email that the band has spoken about Palestinian conflict “at every single gig since the band’s formation.”

“We believe we have an obligation to use our platform when we can to raise the issue of Palestine,” he said in the statement published on April 23, “and it was important for us to speak out at Coachella as the USA is the main funder and supplier of weapons to Israel as they commit genocide in Gaza.”

He added that the band wasn’t aware that their performance on the first weekend of Coachella had been cut short on Coachella’s YouTube livestream until the next day.

In response to Osbourne’s call to have their visas revoked, he said her “rant has so many holes in it that it hardly warrants a reply, but she should listen to ‘War Pigs’ that was written by Black Sabbath.”

In a social media post on April 25, Kneecap described the response to their Coachella set as a “coordinated smear campaign.”

Kneecap splits with their US agent

The Hollywood Reporter reported on April 24 that Independent Artist Group no longer represents the band in the US. Primary Talent International represents the band outside the US.

The outlet said that IAG, which has artists such as Metallica, Billy Joel, and 50 Cent on its roster, parted ways with Kneecap between the first and second Coachella weekends.

The booking agency previously sponsored the trio’s US work visas, but that is no longer the case, per The Hollywood Reporter. Without valid work visas, individuals from overseas cannot work in the US.

The band’s website states that they are scheduled to begin a US tour on October 1, which consists of 21 dates and is mostly sold out.

Representatives for Kneecap did not respond to a request for comment sent from Business Insider regarding the split from IAG and the status of their upcoming US shows.