Kneecap End Coachella Set With Pro-Palestine Messages After Censorship Claims

One week after they claimed Coachella censored the pro-Palestinian messaging during their debut at the event, Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap ended their second festival date with strong anti-Israel sentiments.

The Belfast trio performed at the festival’s second weekend on Friday (April 18), closing their set by projecting strong messaging in support of Palestinians. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel; free Palestine.”

Reportedly, Kneecap’s first weekend performance on April 11 was also set to feature the messages, though their sentiments did not appear. The absent messages were brought to the band’s attention after word that their chant celebrating the 2013 death of former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was not broadcast during the festival’s livestream.

“Not the only thing that was cut – our messaging on the US-backed genocide in Gaza somehow never appeared on screens either,” Kneecap wrote on socials in response to the incident. “Back next Friday Coachella and it’ll be sorted.” According to Variety, the Sonora tent’s performances were not broadcast for the second weekend of the festival.

Alongside the promised return of the messages, the trio also increased their sentiments for the second weekend. While their pro-Palestine and anti-Israel chants remained, the group also used their latest performance to tell the crowd “the Irish are not so longer persecuted under the Brits, but we were never bombed under the f–king skies with nowhere to go.”

This year’s edition of Coachella has not been lacking in terms of artists protesting Israel and sharing their support of Palestine. While Green Day have altered lyrics to reflect the plight of Palestinian children, names such as Bob Vylan and Blonde Redhead have also displayed Palestinian flags during their sets. In the case of the latter, the onstage event was soundtracked by audio of Mahmoud Khalil – the detained Columbia University graduate student currently being held in an immigration detention center following his role in on-campus protests.

Kneecap’s messaging has generated the most notoriety, however, with many artists and fans calling on Coachella organizers Goldenvoice and parent company AEG Presents to comment on the situation. The Hollywood Reporter notes that insiders have claimed Goldenvoice CEO Paul Tollett was “blindsided” by Kneecap’s actions.

In a post shared on social media, HYBE America CEO and former talent manager Scooter Braun – who previously staged exhibits in Los Angeles and Israel about the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel – defended Tollett.

“This is my friend Paul Tollett, the founder of @coachella,” Braun wrote. “He is someone who lives and breathes the festival community. He fights for artists and he fights for all people. When I invited him to the opening of the Nova music exhibit in Los Angeles, he was the first person from the industry to accept. 

“He came on his own time and spent five hours in the exhibit and then met with survivors of nova and invited them to the festival this year as his guest. He cried with them, he laughed with them, and he continues to advocate for them. 

“Let’s not lose sight of who this man is, and let us stand with him in this moment when a group, without his knowing, took advantage of his festival and created hate in a place that’s filled with love,” Braun added.