Massive Attack have issued a statement on the ongoing Kneecap controversy, stressing that “Gaza is the story” and “genocide is the story”.
Since Kneecap “blindsided” Coachella organisers with overtly political statements in support of Palestine, the band have found themselves the subject of attention from counter-terror police in the UK, who have said they are assessing two videos from the band’s gigs.
In one, footage appears to show a band member shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”, while another purportedly shows the group calling for the death of Conservative MPs. The band have since denied supporting either Hamas or Hezbollah and have denied promoting violence against MPs.
“Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay. We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history,” they said.
“We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.”
Nevertheless, Kneecap have faced numerous calls from politicians for the band to be removed from festival line-ups this summer, including Glastonbury and TRNSMT.
Now, Massive Attack, who themselves have been vocal in their support for Palestine for decades and have boycotted performing in Israel since 1999, have issued a statement supporting Kneecap and urging the focus to remain on what they call a “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
In a statement titled “Kneecap are not the story”, Massive Attack wrote: “If senior politicians can find neither the time, nor the words to condemn, say, the murder of fifteen voluntary aid workers in Gaza, or the illegal starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, or the killing of thousands & thousands of children in the same territory, by a state in possession of the highest precision weapons on earth; how much notice should a music festival take of their moral advice on booking performing acts?”
Massive Attack
pic.twitter.com/6QychuRmwv
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 30, 2025
“As a band that has spoken publicly for more than 30 years about the illegal occupation, apartheid system and killing with impunity of thousands of Palestinians, we are hyper aware of the both the human cost of abject political silence, and the commercial implications of publicly expressing solidarity with an oppressed people.”
They continued: “Language matters of course. The hideous murders of elected politicians Jo Cox and David Amess means there’s no scope for flippancy or recklessness. But do politicians and right-wing journalists strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage utterings of a young punk band, while simultaneously obfuscating or even ignoring a genocide happening in real time (including the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers) have any right to intimidate festival events into acts of political censorship?”
“Kneecap are not the story,” they added. “Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story. And the silence, acquiescence and support of those crimes against humanity by the elected British government is the real story.”
“Solidarity with all artists with the moral courage to speak out against Israeli war crimes, and the ongoing persecution and slaughter of the Palestinian people,” they concluded.
In addition to speaking out regularly on the subject of Palestine and boycotting Israel, Massive Attack also teamed up with Fontaines D.C. and Young Fathers on a single in 2023 to support the charity Médecins Sans Frontières’ emergency operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
In the wake of the Kneecap backlash, the group’s manager Daniel Lambert defended the band during an appearance on RTÉ’s Prime Time on Tuesday night (April 29), saying “children are starving to death, and we’re spending six or seven days talking about Kneecap,” adding: “We spent less than a day talking about fifteen executed medics.”
The band had referenced the murder of the medics on X/Twitter back in March, writing: “This weekend Israel executed 15 medics – they buried them in a mass grave and then buried their ambulances with bulldozers,” going on to call Israel “deeply evil”.
Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan, Lambert said that “at every point, [the band] have the absolute conviction that they are doing the right thing and they stand on the right side of history.”
“A video didn’t emerge,” he continued. “There was a concerted campaign emanating from the US to analyse every single thing that Kneecap have ever said.
“Why this happened was because of what they said at Coachella, and what they said at Coachella was the right thing to say. It’s a message aimed at governments who are enabling a genocide in Gaza.
“What really scared the state of Israel, and what lead to this campaign, is the reaction of young people in America,” added Lambert. “Young people who aren’t willing to support a genocide, young people who have empathy and sympathy towards the Palestinian people.”
At the time of writing, the band’s appearances at Glastonbury, TRNSMT and other European festivals remain intact. Elsewhere earlier this week, their huge Belfast show with Fontaines D.C. sold out in just over half an hour, despite calls from the DUP to have it axed.
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