Kneecap fill Glastonbury stage as Mo Chara declares 'I'm a free man'

Irish Examiner

18 hours ago

Kneecap member Mo Chara said 'Glastonbury, I'm a free man' as the Belfast rap trio took to the West Holts Stage at the festival on Saturday.
The group have been in the headlines after member Liam Óg O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, was charged with a terror offence.
News broadcasts criticising the hip hop trio played from the sound system before they walked onto the stage were booed by the Glastonbury Festival audience.
Kneecap member DJ Provai signals to the crowd on the West Holts Stage (Yui Mok/PA)
Access to the area around the West Holts Stage was closed around 45 minutes before their performance after groups of fans arrived to form a sea of Irish and Palestinian flags.
In the run up to the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, several politicians called for the group to be removed from the line-up and British prime minister Keir Starmer said their performance would not be 'appropriate'.
During the performance on Saturday, the trio led chants of 'fuck Keir Starmer' and said that he was just a 'shit Jeremy Corbyn.'
Festival organisers also instructed people not to attend the stage after their performance had started due to crowd congestion.
Earlier on Saturday, the BBC confirmed they would not be live-streaming the set but said the performance is likely to be made available on-demand later.
A BBC spokesperson said: 'As the broadcast partner, the BBC is bringing audiences extensive music coverage from Glastonbury, with artists booked by the festival organisers.
'While the BBC doesn't ban artists, our plans ensure that our programming meets our editorial guidelines.
'We don't always live-stream every act from the main stages and look to make an on-demand version of Kneecap's performance available on our digital platforms, alongside more than 90 other sets.'
The crowd ahead of Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage (Yui Mok/PA)
It is understood the BBC needs to consider the performance before making a final decision.
The band said on Instagram: 'The propaganda wing of the regime has just contacted us….
'They WILL put our set from Glastonbury today on the iPlayer later this evening for your viewing pleasure.'
Ó hAnnaidh, 27, was charged with allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah, while saying 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah' at a gig in November last year.
On June 18 the rapper was cheered by hundreds of supporters as he arrived with bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ Ó Dochartaigh at Westminster Magistrates' Court in Free Mo Chara T-shirts.
He was released on unconditional bail until the next hearing at the same court on August 20.
Ahead of the group's performance, Gemma Gibson, 41, from Newcastle told the PA news agency that she was 'really excited' to see Kneecap perform.
Asked if their set should have been cancelled amid the ongoing controversy, she said: 'Well, that would be completely against everything that Glastonbury stands for… This is where they should be.'
Also playing on Saturday afternoon were Leeds rock band Kaiser Chiefs and US star Brandi Carlile, who released an album with Sir Elton John earlier in the year.
Irish singer CMAT, who played the Pyramid Stage on Friday, performed a secret set at the BBC Introducing stage on Saturday.
Neil Young, best known for songs such as Rockin' In The Free World, Like A Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl, will headline the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night with his band the Chrome Hearts.
The BBC will broadcast Young's set after previously saying it would not be shown 'at the artist's request'.
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