Kneecap

[Leonard Hatred]

Talk to me

[Bungo]

Does being banned by Radio 1 have the desired impact on a music biz career that it used to?

[Monsieur merde de cheval]

Weller has signed an open letter of support for them, saying politics shouldn't get in the way of artists being able to play gigs/festivals.

Unless you have different political opinions to him, of course.

Weller has always despised the white working  class
Down in the tube station at midnight is classic Jam .
(He was on about me and my kind)
Eton rifles was a pop at the ruperts.

He's your  typical  leftwaffe minge   toby  throwing his weight around and putting  the white working class scum  in their place...(In his world)
 
i have news for Weller ...
You're the  cսnt ..TOP TABLE

[One Sunny Day]

Good, balanced view that Billy Bragg has taken, over this. I think people on the right and the left will be surprised by some of it. -

"I’m glad to see that a number of artists have signed a letter defending Kneecap from attempts to remove them from various festival bills in the wake of comments made at shows over two years ago. The band have apologised for the hurt they caused to the families of murdered MPs and distanced themselves from Hamas and Hezbollah. Having taken that step, I believe they deserve to be reinstated on those bills that have removed them, and also confirmed as playing at those festivals where they are already scheduled to perform.
However, I’m not sure I would have felt comfortable signing the letter (I wasn’t asked). My problem is that the wording lacks any sense of nuance or understanding of why this whole furore kicked off. And in trying to avoid the complexities of this issue by claiming that the politics of an artist’s views are irrelevant, the signatories are arguing that the only principle at stake here is free speech. I disagree. Andrew Tate uses that justification to avoid accusations that he is pedalling misogyny. Free speech absolutism has made Twitter a sewer of right wing bile and sexist bullying. Rock Against Racism was founded on the belief that artists should not be free to say whatever they want to say, without any consequence.
If we want to live in a society where everyone can exercise their liberty to freely express their opinions, then we have to take two other crucial dimensions into consideration. Firstly, we must give equal space for other opinions to be expressed. And secondly, to prevent those first two rights from being exploited by those who would abuse them by threatening and discriminating against others, we need to accept that words have consequences.
What that means in practice is that we must be careful not to allow the considered and cogent arguments we seek to make - Free Palestine, end the genocide - to be undermined by flippant statements that we later have to apologise for. I think the artist’s letter would have been much stronger, as would the case for reinstating Kneecap, if it had recognised this crucial dynamic, rather than seeking to brush all other considerations aside.
Kneecap have been vocal allies of the Palestinian people, and their criticisms of Israel are, in my view, totally justified. Only the most blinkered supporters of Israel would now deny that what is being perpetrated in Gaza is genocide. I know that because I’ve argued with such people about this terminology on social media. The graphics that Kneecap displayed at Coachella, and the statements they made from the stage are not anti-Semitic, they are anti-Israel. It’s an important distinction: Anti-semitism is discrimination based on ethnicity and, like all racism, should always be opposed. The right to protest against the behaviour of a state is a fundamental freedom that must be upheld. Adopting laws that make it illegal to do so is the hallmark of a totalitarian regime.
And let’s not kid ourselves. The band are being punished for the anti-Israel statements they made at Coachella. Sharon Osbourne’s complaints sent the right wing press off to scour the internet looking for a stick to beat the band with and, unfortunately, they found it. While some might argue that there is a case to be made in support of Hamas, it cannot be done by ignoring the killing of 815 Israel civilians including 36 children on October 7th, just as it is not possible to express support for Israel without recognising the ongoing slaughter of over 40,000 Palestinian civilians, more than 14,500 of them children, according to UNICEF.
The weight of the moral argument against Israel rests on the fact that the targeting of civilians is a war crime. While the extreme magnitude of the retribution that is being inflicted on the people of Gaza is out of all proportion, we must not lose sight of that fact. If we hope to one day see Netanyahu tried in The Hague, then we must also accept that those responsible for killing civilians on October 7th should stand trial on similar charges. Failure to do so undermines support for the Palestinian people, because it suggests that not all dead children are equal. And, as Kneecap have discovered, it also gifts control of the narrative to one’s enemies.
It shouldn’t go unmentioned that the people calling for Kneecap to be banned are the same people who decry cancel culture whenever anyone of their political persuasion is called to account. That none of the reactionaries who argue for the right to offend has stepped up to defend the band shows you what a bunch of self-serving hypocrites they are. Nor should we be comfortable with the possibility that Kneecap could be prosecuted for ill-considered comments made during a concert.
The fact is, people say stupid things onstage in the heat of the moment. In calmer environments, the band make it clear that they do not support the targeting of civilians, be they non-combatants or members of parliament, citing the experience of their community during the Troubles. In doing so, they implicitly recognise that there are limits to freedom of expression, that some things cannot be said without consequence.
Perhaps if they addressed some of the complexities of this situation in an interview, putting their statements and subsequent treatment into context while defending their right to call out genocide, it might clear the air and garner wider support for Kneecap to perform as scheduled this summer.
What I don’t think helps them - or any of us who wish to engage in debate around highly contentious issues - is a blanket demand that artists be allowed to say whatever they want to say, without consequence.
We live in a time when acting with impunity is celebrated by people who believe that physical strength, unprecedented wealth, popular acclaim or technological nous gives an individual the right to do whatever they want. Yet freedom, and your ability to enjoy it, relies on no one being above the law. Liberty, the right to express yourself in word and deed, is not in and of itself enough to constitute the state of being free, for, without equality, liberty is nothing more than privilege. And, as our American cousins are discovering to their cost, liberty without accountability is tantamount to tyranny."

[Gank]

More interest in these plums than the spurs game.

Middle class stage school types causing faux outrage. 

Their promotional strategy is straight out of the Malcolm McLaren playbook and it certainly works.

That's what a fool believes.

Oh wait, McLaren? Ok, forget it.

[zebthecat]

More interest in these plums than the spurs game.

Middle class stage school types causing faux outrage. 

Their promotional strategy is straight out of the Malcolm McLaren playbook and it certainly works.

[MaryMillingtonsGhost]

Fenian cunts.
Would love them to get a gig in Gibraltar.
FLAVIUS

[honky cat]

More interest in these plums than the spurs game.

Middle class stage school types causing faux outrage. 

[southbankbornnbred]

They’ve been criticised for shouting “up the Hamas”.

But are we sure they’re not just big West Ham fans with a hefty Irish twang?!

[Leonard Hatred]

It'd be quite ironic if the UVF took umbrage and kneecapped them 

[Far Cough UKunt]

Even Ian Dury balked at using "cսnt"



Just realised he did in Plaistow Patricia

[Eerie Decent]

Weller has signed an open letter of support for them, saying politics shouldn't get in the way of artists being able to play gigs/festivals.

Unless you have different political opinions to him, of course.

[the coming of gary]

Weller did himself no favours by having them as support in December
Doubt if that will happen again
.

[Eerie Decent]

Did any of the social media posts last year, for which people are doing prison time, inspire the Southport 'rioters' ?
 

[One Sunny Day]

Have they actually inspired anyone to murder their Tory MP? Ali Harbi Ali struck me more as a Coldplay kind of guy.

[violator]

‘dares more to Oirland dan dis’

Toothless simpletons with eyebrows on their cheeks

[Briano]

The last band to get away with the C word was the Sex Pistols with Pretty VaCUNT

[THUNDERCLINT]

Their parents are 1st cousins, yes?

[Mike Oxsaw]

I predict one of them will get shot.

You can't go around winding folk up like that.

Not in this day and age.

Why bother
..they're little boys looking for attention .

.

Which the MSM are giving them in spades (can I still say that???).

"But it's the NEWS!!!" they'll thcweam, "Gotta report the NEWS! NEWS is far more important than suppressing the free speech of the indigenous locals!

If comments like those incite people to "take action", then I contest that it's a failure in society's education system that is to blame, not the comments themselves.

[Monsieur merde de cheval]

I predict one of them will get shot.

You can't go around winding folk up like that.

Not in this day and age.

Why bother
..they're little boys looking for attention .

.

[Massive Attack]

I predict one of them will get shot.

 

And probably by one of their own balayed-up rapper's in the Band by mistaking them for a British chav by the way they dress. Oh and FUCK THE IRA, whilst we're at it.  

[Sydney_Iron]

Sound like a feisty bunch, attention seeking cunts if you ask me, expect some youngsters will lap it up being antiestablishment, pro Hamas and all that!


This from the BBC...........


During an incendiary performance at the Coachella music festival in California earlier this month, they described Israel's military action in Gaza as a US-funded genocide. As a result, they've been called anti-Semitic and branded "terrorist sympathisers".

Now, footage from two previous gigs is being assessed by counter-terrorism police in the UK.

In one, the band allegedly call for the death of Conservative MPs. Another seems to show a band member shouting "up Hamas, up Hezbollah". Both groups are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.

[Leonard Hatred]

I predict one of them will get shot.

You can't go around winding folk up like that.

Not in this day and age.

[Pub Bigot]

They've rather shot themselves in the foot.

They are Irish. 

[Far Cough UKunt]

In my considered opinion it's a load of old fucking shite.

[zebthecat]

They've rather shot themselves in the foot.