The Irish rap group Kneecap has cancelled a planned tour in the United States, citing a UK court hearing in a case one of its members is facing for allegedly supporting Hezbollah.
“Due to the proximity of our next court hearing in London to the first date of the tour, as the British government continues its witch-hunt, we will have to cancel all 15 US tour dates in October”, the band said in a statement.
“But once we win our court case, which we will, we promise to embark on an even bigger tour”, said the statement posted to social media late Monday, adding that refunds would be available.
Liam O’Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert late last year.
Since Hezbollah was banned in the UK in 2019, it has been an offence to show support for the Iran-backed Lebanese force.
Kneecap has also grabbed headlines for statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel.
They played a closely scrutinised concert at the Glastonbury Festival in June, where Chara declared: “Israel are war criminals.”
The group later missed playing at the Sziget Festival in Budapest after being barred from entering the country by the Hungarian authorities, a close ally of Israel.
Kneecap, who also support Irish republicanism and criticise British imperialism, have sparked widespread debate in the UK and Ireland, more than two-and-a-half decades after the peace agreement that aimed to end the conflict over the status of Northern Ireland.
The group takes its name from the deliberate shooting of the limbs, known as “kneecapping”, carried out by Irish republicans as punishment attacks during the decades of unrest.
bur-tym/tc
© Agence France-Presse
