Kneecap cancel US tour due to “close proximity of our next court hearing”

Kneecap have cancelled their US tour dates for October due to their upcoming court hearing in London. 

The Irish-language rap trio will no longer be performing its 15 US shows planned for October 1st through 15th in New York, Boston, Nashville, Philadelphia and Washington, DC as member Mo Chara’s terror offence charge court hearing is set for 26th September. The rapper born Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was given unconditional bail in June.

“To all our US based fans, we have some bad news”, Kneecap said in a press statement. “Due to the close proximity of our next court hearing in London on September 26 — as the British government continues its witch-hunt — with the start of the U.S. tour, we will have to cancel all 15 U.S. tour dates in October.”

They continued: “With every show fully sold out this is news we are sad to deliver. But once we win our court case, which we will, we promise to embark on an even bigger tour to all you great heads.” 

Mo Chara’s defence team have asked the terror charge be thrown out on a technical error as the November 2024 video at the centre of the case against him is outside the six-month jurisdiction limit.

Authorities decided to take action after the rapper allegedly displayed a flag for the Lebanese political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah at a London gig last year. The organisation is proscribed as a terrorist threat under British law, which views any support as criminal.

In May, Kneecap called the charge “a carnival of distraction” before stating: “We are not the story. Genocide is. They [the UK government] profit from genocide, they use an ‘anti-terror law’ against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their ‘crown court’, instead a court that doesn’t have a jury.”

Kneecap confirmed that the four Canadian shows in Vancouver and Toronto will go ahead in October, and promised US fans they’ll share “something very special” next week to make up for the cancelled gigs. 

They closed the press statement with a nod to Gil Scott-Heron: “And remember… / ‘The revolution will be no re-run, brothers / The revolution will be live”. 

In June, Kneecap amplified the short film See it. Say it. Censored in support of its pro-Palestinean message. The trio served as executive producers on the three-minute clip. Kneecap recently joined Massive Attack, Brian Eno and more in forming an alliance for artists who’ve used their platform to “speak out against the genocide occurring there and the role of the UK government in facilitating it”. 

For more on Kneecaps political roots and activism, revisit Brian Coney’s in-depth feature with the group from June 2024.