Kneecap have responded to rapper Mo Chara’s terror offence charge with a defiant statement, calling it “a carnival of distraction” and vowing to fight it in court.
Mo Chara (real name JJ O’Hanna) was charged this week over an alleged incident during the trio’s London show last November, where he reportedly displayed a Hezbollah flag. The UK government classifies Hezbollah as a proscribed terrorist organisation. The charge comes after months of scrutiny surrounding Kneecap’s public support for Palestine — including their much-talked-about Coachella set that “blindsided” festival organisers and triggered a review by UK counter-terror police.
Posting to Instagram, the Belfast group said they “vehemently deny” the charge, framing it as political theatre: “This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is.”
The group went further, calling out the UK’s response to Gaza, where over 14,000 children are reportedly at risk of starving, and accusing the British government of hypocrisy: “They 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’.”
They further claim that the real objective is silencing dissent: “To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To prosecute artists who dare speak out.”
The charge stems from footage allegedly showing O’Hanna waving the flag and shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” during their O2 Forum Kentish Town gig. Kneecap maintain that footage was taken out of context and deny supporting or inciting violence.
“We stand proudly with the people,” they wrote. “You stand complicit with the war criminals… We are on the right side of history. You are not.”
Mo Chara is due in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18. Until then, Kneecap will keep doing what they do best: speaking loud, pissing off the establishment, and refusing to shut up — no matter who’s watching.
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