Kneecap concert in Vienna cancelled following political pressure
Kneecap will no longer be playing in Vienna in September following mounting political pressure from Austrian officials.
Last week, Leo Lugner, of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria political party, issued a press release calling for the show, which was scheduled for September 1st, to be cancelled. Lugner wrote: “Anyone who celebrates and supports terrorism is crossing every red line. This has nothing to do with freedom of art or freedom of expression.”
Now, Kneecap have issued a statement stating that “due to acute safety concerns on the part of the authorities” they will no longer be playing in Vienna.
The band continued: “This follows the recent cancellation of a screening of our movie as part of the Vienna Cultural Summer due to ‘threats’ and ‘security concerns’.”
They also responded to Lugner, writing, “Leo Lugner, of the FPÖ, announced he would file charges against the operator of the venue, and that ‘the Gasomoter must be scrutinized with regard to all public funding’, if our show was to go ahead.” Kneecap added, “Fuck Leo Lugner.”
Kneecap then apologised to fans, sharing, “To the 3500 people we were looking forward to seeing at our first headline show in Vienna, we are sorry: this is out of our hands. All tickets will be refunded.”
They described the show cancellation as a “political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Kneecap will now play a headline show in Warsaw, Poland, on September 1st.
This weekend, Kneecap were due to perform at Sziget Festival in Hungary. However, the Hungarian government stepped in to ban the group from entering the country to cancel their set.
In response, Kneecap claimed “there is no legal basis for his actions” before highlighting that no member of the band has ever been convicted of any crime. The trio also state they “stand against all hate crimes” and label it a “political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people.”
The band’s Mo Chara, full name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on August 20th after being charged in May with a terror offence for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert.
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