The UK Culture Secretary has made her feelings known on whether the BBC should broadcast Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury this weekend, saying the band “thrive on the oxygen of publicity.”
“Personally I don’t want to see that on TV screens,” said Lisa Nandy when questioned over whether the BBC should cover the band’s set.
Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Live show yesterday, Nandy stressed “it is an independent matter for the BBC” but said she agrees with Prime Minister Keir Starmer “very strongly,” whose view is that Kneecap’s Glastonbury performance is not “appropriate.”
Glastonbury, and longstanding broadcasting partner the BBC, have been feeling the heat over whether they should be platforming the trio, one of whom is currently bailed on a terror charge after displaying a flag at a London gig in support of Hezbollah – a proscribed terrorist group in the UK. This came a few months after counter-terrorism police said they were assessing videos of a bandmember allegedly telling fans at a gig: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” The alleged remarks are particularly charged given that two UK MPs have been killed in their constituencies over the past decade.
Nandy said: “This is a band that has thrived on the oxygen of publicity. And as well as the terrorist offences, there have been very, very serious comments that they’ve made, encouraging attacks on elected Members of Parliament. Not from my own party, but it is my job to stand up against that. It’s horrific.”
Nandy has previously made her displeasure of the band known. Several weeks back she ordered a review of a government-backed programme supporting emerging musicians after it awarded £15,000 ($20,000) to Kneecap.
As it stands, Kneecap remain on the bill for their Glastonbury slot at 4 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. PT) on the West Holts stage, one of the smaller stages at the annual festival in the South West of England, which is by a distance the UK’s biggest music fest and one of biggest in the world.
The BBC, which shows wall-to-wall coverage of Glastonbury, has said “decisions about our output will be made in the lead up to the festival.”
There is a chance that the BBC could monitor Kneecap’s performance for anything untoward before uploading the set to iPlayer, we revealed yesterday, in a similar vein to how the BAFTA awards are shown ‘as live’.
The Irish hip-hop trio hit new heights of fame last year after their hit semi-autobiographical indie movie became an awards darling.
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