Kneecap led an anti-Keir Starmer chant during their Glastonbury set on Saturday. The Irish hip-hop group took to the West Holts stage and reiterated their political stance against the Prime Minister, who had previously criticised the band’s inclusion in the festival line-up. Prior to their set, Sir Keir said that Kneecap’s gig would not be “appropriate” after one of the members was charged with a terror offence. The BBC confirmed that they would not be live-streaming Kneecap’s performance. The band then addressed the Glastonbury crowd during their gig, saying: “F***ing love the English people. It’s the English Government we don’t like. We’re not far away from a Celtic republic. F*** Keir Starmer.”
The three artists then chanted in unison, “F*** Keir Starmer! F*** Keir Starmer! F*** Keir Starmer!” The huge crowd reportedly joined in with the chant, and Kneecap then performed their controversial soundtrack, Get Your Brits Out.
Prior to Kneecap’s slot, the act before had been chanting “death to the IDF” to the crowd. Punk band Bob Vylan reportedly expressed solidarity with Kneecap amid their terror charge and delivered a long, passionate speech addressing the conflict in the Middle East.
Between his songs, he said, “We are seeing some f***ed up things happening in the world; we are seeing the UK and the US be complicit in war crimes, in genocide happening over there to the Palestinian people. Look, I know we are on the BBC and we aren’t going to say anything crazy, we can leave that for them lads.”
He also continued, “But unfortunately, we have seen a strange reaction to people that come out and voice support for Palestine, even though anybody wth any kind of moral compass can surely tell that what is happening over there in Gaza is a tragedy.”