As Glastonbury Festival 2025 officially kicked off this morning, organiser Emily Eavis took a moment to address the controversy swirling around Belfast rap trio Kneecap — and made it clear where she stands: “Everyone is welcome here.”
The group, known for their sharp-tongued Irish-language hip hop and unfiltered political stance, are set to play the West Holts Stage at 4pm on Saturday. But their inclusion on the bill hasn’t exactly gone down quietly.
Over the past few months, Kneecap have been locked in a firestorm of media and political scrutiny following a livestream-cut Coachella set, a headline-making anti-Thatcher chant, and most notably, the terror charge hanging over member Mo Chara — real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh — for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag on stage last year. He appeared in court just last week and is out on bail.
Despite pressure from MPs and calls from both the Prime Minister and the Tory front bench to cut them from the line-up, Glastonbury is holding firm.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast today, Eavis remained calm in the eye of the storm. “There have been a lot of really heated topics this year,” she said, “but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”
When asked about Keir Starmer’s public call to ban the band, Eavis brushed it off. “We haven’t responded to that. At the moment we’re just focusing on bringing the best festival to the people who want to come here.”
That’s Glasto in a nutshell. Letting the music — and the people — speak for themselves.
Kneecap, for their part, aren’t backing down either. In a typically fiery post responding to the PM, they wrote: “You know what’s ‘not appropriate’, Keir? Arming a fucking genocide.”
With tensions high and anticipation even higher, all eyes are on their Saturday set. Expect it to be loud, political, and absolutely unmissable.
