Rap group Kneecap claims pro-Palestine messages were cut from its Coachella set
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The outspoken Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap is well-known for scathing criticism of Israel’s attacks on Gaza during its live sets. But the band says a few pointed moments from its two Coachella sets were cut from the fest’s official livestream, and wonders if its messaging played a role.
The band’s performance at the fest’s second weekend featured projections of text reading “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F— Israel Free Palestine.”
The three members of the self-proclaimed ‘sun cream brigade’ have made the pilgrimage across the Atlantic to perform at music’s sacred grounds in Indio on Friday.
The band said on social media that those messages were supposed to have appeared during their Weekend 1 set as well, but “our messaging on the US-backed genocide in Gaza somehow never appeared on screens either.”
Representatives for Goldenvoice, the fest’s promoter, did not immediately return a request for comment.
During its first weekend set, the band reportedly led a boisterous chant celebrating the 2013 death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, which they said was cut from the livestream as well.
No sets from Coachella’s Sonora Tent — the indoor venue reserved for the punk-inspired acts that made Goldenvoice’s early reputation — were filmed for the livestream during the second weekend. There, the group reportedly said onstage that “the Irish are not so longer persecuted under the Brits, but we were never bombed under the f— skies with nowhere to go.”
While Tovar no longer owns the music promotions company he founded in 1981, he remains its No. 1 fan, attending Coachella every year as well as multiple concerts and club shows every week.
“Some uncensored messaging to Coachella,” the band wrote after its Weekend 2 set, posting images of its projections.
Kneecap was far from alone in criticizing Israel’s attacks on Gaza during Coachella. Headliners Green Day altered the lyrics of “Jesus of Suburbia” to sing, “Runnin’ away from pain, like the kids from Palestine.” Other acts like Blonde Redhead and Bob Vylan displayed Palestinian flags during their sets.
Music manager and executive Scooter Braun, who organized a museum exhibition on the Nova festival massacre in Israel, said on Instagram that Coachella founder Paul Tollett “is a good man and has been an outspoken advocate on behalf of survivors of the Nova Music Festival.”
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