Kneecap Shocks as Expected With Raucous Glastonbury Set: 'The BBC Editor Is Going to Have Some Job'
The Irish rap trio has drawn widespread criticism in recent months, with one of the members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, charged with a terror offence last month. Glastonbury partner, the BBC, stood by their decision to air their set, despite U.K. culture secretary Lisa Nandy's comments that the band 'thrive on the oxygen of publicity.' Nandy said Thursday: 'Personally, I don't want to see that on TV screens.'
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Karlovy Vary's Karel Och on Mixing RPG Cinematic Debut, Gloomy Auteur Fare and That Iran Film
Beatles' Apple Corps Names Tom Greene As New CEO
AMC Theatres Strikes Deals to Resolve Litigation, Boost Balance Sheet, Touts Box Office Outlook
On Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury's West Holts stage, which was fenced off as they came on due to overcrowding, Ó hAnnaidh told the 30,000-person crowd: 'Glastonbury, I'm a free man!' Clips of newsreaders announcing his terror charge played before the band came on, as well as pro-Palestine messages and videos of various U.K. politicians criticizing the decision to have the band play at the festival.
'The amount of Palestinian flags I can see is insane,' Ó hAnnaidh also said. 'The BBC editor is going to have some job.'
The band members continued, discussing Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis and his daughter, who now runs the festival, Emily: 'A big thank you to the Eavis family. The pressure that that family was under and they stood strong,' they said of being allowed to perform, 'Fair play to them.'
'The prime minister of your country didn't want us to play… So fuck Keir Starmer!' The band repeated this sentiment a lot over the course of the one-hour set, getting the audience to chant it back to them. Re-emphasizing their pro-Palestine views, Kneecap was critical of the British and U.S. governments and the U.S. media.
In May, the Met Police said it would investigate after online videos showed the band calling for the death of British parliament ministers, as well as chanting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah.' It is illegal in the U.K. to express support for Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and military group in Lebanon, as it is considered a terrorist organization in Britain.
Kneecap, which also includes members Naoise Ó Cairealláin and J.J. Ó Dochartaigh, said the video in question has been taken out of context and that they have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah. Ó hAnnaidh is due in a London court in late August.
The trio, stars of Rich Peppiatt's 'print the legend' biopic, have also raised eyebrows for expressing their pro-Palestine views on stage. After news of Ó hAnnaidh's charge, the band took to defend themselves. 'This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. 14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again, the British establishment is focused on us.'
Last year, the movie Kneecap, also starring Michael Fassbender, dominated film headlines. Director Peppiatt made BAFTA history by tying the record for nominations for a debut filmmaker with six. He won one BAFTA — namely for outstanding debut by a British writer, director, or producer — serving as both writer and director of the film.
But the group's political views have gotten them into hot water. In April, they displayed messages about the ongoing war in Gaza during their Coachella set, leading to the cancellation of their concerts in Germany. Later, they parted ways with their booking agency Independent Artist Group, sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
Glastonbury Festival runs from June 25-29.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More
Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
‘Get well, daddy': Here's why David Beckham was just seen in the hospital
On the mend. David Beckham fans may have been a tad concerned Friday when his wife Victoria posted a reel of him in a hospital bed. The ex-Spice Girl's caption: 'Get well, daddy, with no explanation. Turns out what landed him there wasn't that serious: Beckham underwent a procedure to fix an old injury. Surgeons had to remove a screw that had been placed in the retired soccer star's right arm after a fall that broke his wrist during a game between England and South Africa back in 2003, The Sun reports. The British outlet posted a clip of the painful run-in with Thabang Molefe four minutes into the second half. The screw was apparently intended to dissolve over time, but did not, causing the father of four considerable discomfort through the years. In a followup video, Victoria, 51, posted a video of her 50-year-old hubby tending to their garden at their Costwolds compound in the U.K., as per People magazine. 'Overperforming on the cucumber front, Sir David!!!' read the designer's text over screen, referring to the knight to be's impending title. The Inter Miami co-owner was well enough by Sunday to attend the FIFA Club World Cup game vs. his old team, Paris Saint-Germain, in Atlanta. On Instagram, Becks shared pics from the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium sporting a large bandage. 'It's fine. It's an old injury that needed surgery,' he said in an interview with a reporter before the match-up. 'It's all good.'
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review: In 'Heads of State,' a buddy comedy with statesmen
Say what you will about the Idris Elba-John Cena vehicle 'Heads of State,' but it's surely the first buddy comedy about the fraying bonds of NATO. The potential collapse of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization plays a surprisingly pivotal role in this fitfully diverting, for-background-noise-only, straight-to-streaming movie. Elba plays the embattled British Prime Minister Sam Clarke, while Cena co-stars as the recently elected U.S. President Will Derringer, a former action star. 'Heads of State,' directed by Ilya Naishuller ('Nobody'), is mostly about their relationship, a tense and adversarial one challenged further when an assassination plot leaves them stranded together in Belarus. But that 'Heads of State,' which debuts Wednesday on Prime Video, is such a mild romp makes it all the more surprising to hear a line uttered like: 'If NATO falls, there's backstop against despots and dictators.'not It's a funny time to release a comedy set around international political disconnection and imperiled Western democracy. But if you were beginning to worry that 'Heads of State' is too timely, don't. Any nods to current events here serve more as reminders of how much 'Heads of State' — like most of Hollywood's output — is unengaged with anything resembling our political reality. You could argue that that's not necessarily a bad thing. You could also argue that the greater sin of 'Heads of State' is underusing Stephen Root. (He plays an expert working for the bad guys.) But the vaguest hints of real-world intrigue only cast a pale light on the movie's mostly lackluster comic chops and uninspired action sequences. The best thing going for 'Heads of State' is that the chemistry between Elba and Cena is solid. The 'Suicide Squad' co-stars trade barbs with a genial ease. Most of the time, those revolve around their characters' divergent histories — Clarke was a commando before becoming a politician — in debates like which one of them is 'gym strong' as opposed to 'strong strong.' That's one of the few decent gags in the script by Josh Applebaum, Andre Nemec and Harrison Query. But one problem in 'Heads of State' goes beyond the high-concept set-up. The best buddy comedies — 'Midnight Run,' '48 Hrs.,' 'The Nice Guys' — are predicated on opposites thrown together. Elba and Cena have their obvious differences. (Cena's Derringer is exaggeratedly optimistic here, too.) But ultimately they're both beefy dudes in suits. As the MI6 agent Noel Bisset, Priyanka Chopra Jones gives the movie a kick. But her scenes are left to the beginning and end of the movie. In between, we're left to wonder where she went, how two political leaders would have such non-existent security and whether a few half-decent jokes are enough to forgive the movie's geopolitical delusions. 'Heads of State,' an Amazon MGM Studios release is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for sequences of strong violence/action, language and some smoking. Running time: 113 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
Elle
4 hours ago
- Elle
How Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge Hard-Launched Their Romance on Instagram After Glastonbury
THE RUNDOWN Gracie Abrams isn't the only Glastonbury performer to make things very Instagram official with her partner after the British music festival. Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge also hard-launched their relationship on the social media platform with some photos, videos, and a little flirting in the comments. Rodrigo shared multiple clips of them together in a Glastonbury recap carousel—and Partridge liked the post: While Rodrigo has previously shared photos of Partridge on Instagram, she never showed his face. But in the eighth slide of her Glastonbury post, she appears on his shoulders, watching another set. He also is part of the group spraying her with champagne in the second slide: Partridge, for his part, was less subtle. He posted an Instagram tribute to Rodrigo after her performance, marking his first grid post about her. He wrote, 'I hope you caught Olivia's show last night. A truly special performance on such a huge scale. She worked her ass off for it and couldn't be more deserving of all her success and for the great crowd that was watching. What a moment #glastonberry🍓❤️❤️❤️' Rodrigo replied, 'glastonBERRY ilysm😭😭😭' Partridge was just as adoring on Rodrigo's Instagram. In a post she shared yesterday about Glastonbury, he commented, 'Ur the best ❤️🍓' Rodrigo and Partridge were first romantically linked in October 2023. They went to this year's Grammys together in one of their biggest red carpet appearances to date. Last fall, Partridge spoke to ELLE about being a Golden Retriever boyfriend. 'I think in past relationships my mind worked at a different speed to the women I've known,' he admitted. 'A bit slower. The way I would characterize it is like a Golden Retriever and a black cat. I can imagine being happy sitting and catching a Frisbee.' He also credited Rodrigo for expanding his music taste: 'My girlfriend has been trying to get me into more pop recently—Chappell Roan has been on repeat,' he said.
