"Glastonbury, I'm a free man!" Kneecap draw massive crowd at Glastonbury, as BBC refuse to livestream the festival's most talked-about performance, but insist "the BBC doesn’t ban artists"

Kneecap drew a massive crowd to Glastonbury's West Holts stage this afternoon, June 28, following months of debate as to whether the Belfast/Derry rap trio should be permitted to play at Britain's biggest festival. The issue of their participation in the event came in the wake of the band's controversial Coachella festival performances - which featured messages in support of the Palestinian people and an onstage graphic stating "Fuck Israel" - and rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, aka Mo Chara, being charged with a terrorism offence.

In the weeks leading up to the controversial Irish band's appearance at Glastonbury, some British politicians and a group of music industry executives called for the trio to be pulled from the bill.

Asked by UK tabloid newspaper The Sun if the band should be permitted to perform, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated, “No I don’t. I think we need to come down really clearly on this. I won’t say too much, because there’s a court case on, but I don’t think that’s appropriate."

The BBC subsequently decided not to stream the band's performance live on their iPlayer service, but said that it would be made available later in the evening. A BBC spokesperson said: “Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans ensure that our programming meets our editorial guidelines.

Ó hAnnaidh, 27, from West Belfast appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 18 accused of displaying a flag representing Hezbollah, “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation”, at a show at London's Kentish Town Forum last November. Footage filmed at the show allegedly features the rapper saying “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” as he leaves the stage.

Ó hAnnaidh was released on unconditional bail, with his next hearing scheduled for August 20.

Demand to see the Irish trio at Glastonbury was so great that festival stewards shut down access to the West Holts stage 45 minutes before the trio's set. The trio emerged onstage following a montage of TV news pieces referencing Ó hAnnaidh's terror charge. Part of the footage featured Sharon Osbourne saying, "Shame on Glastonbury, they have destroyed it with one pathetic band." Osbourne's comment was greeted with loud boos from those gathered in front of the stage.

Performing in front of a sea of Palestine flags, Mo Chara introduced himself to the crowd by stating, "Glastonbury, I'm a free man!" The crowd then broke into a sustained "Fuck Keir Starmer" chant.

Fellow rapper Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) told the crowd that his bandmate is facing a "trumped-up charge", adding, "It's not the first time there was a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British justice system", a reference to the Irish men and women known as the Birmingham Six and the Guilford Four, who wrongly convicted of IRA bombing charges in the 1970s.

Ó Cairealláin then asked for fans to show up to his friend's next court hearing, and joked, "We'll start a riot outside the court."

"Oh, fuck, the papers are going to love that," Mo Chara replied, adding "Fuck the Daily Mail."

For clarity, and to avoid his words being misrepresented in the media, Ó Cairealláin then stated, "I don't want anybody to start a riot. No riots, just love and support... and more importantly, support for Palestine."

Ó Cairealláin admitted that being in the spotlight for their political opinions and his friend's legal case is stressful for the band, but added, "but the stress that we're feeling is minimal compared to what the Palestinian people are going through every fucking day."

"Not only are they being bombed from the fucking skies," added Mo Chara, "they're now being starved to death... I don't have to lecture you people, we're all watching it, there's no fucking hiding it, Israel are war criminals, it's a fucking genocide."

Israel has been accused of carrying out genocidal acts during the ongoing war in Gaza by numerous organisations, including the UN Human Rights Council. Israel's military campaign, sparked by the October 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli soil that saw around 1,200 people killed and 251 people taken hostage, has resulted in the death of over 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 58 hostages from the October 7, 2023 attack remain held in captivity by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has denied any genocidal intent, which requires certain thresholds to be met in order to be legally recognised; a case brought forward by South Africa to The International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians is ongoing.

The conflict has been on-going for decades, with official UN figures for the 15 years before the 2023 escalation recording 7277 Palestinian deaths and 162,121 Palestinian injuries in occupied Palestinian territory and Israel since 2008, and 368 Israeli deaths and 6,670 Israeli injuries during the same time span in the region.

In theory, Kneecap's set was to be made available to view on the BBC iPlayer on Saturday evening. As of midnight Saturday, it has not yet been made available to view.

A TikTok livestream of the band's performance was liked by over two million people worldwide during its transmission.