Kneecap take legal action against Canadian MP: “Outrageous and baseless accussations”
Kneecap have announced that they are taking legal action against Canadian MP Vince Gasparro who barred them from entering the country after accusing the group of “dangerous endorsements of violence and hate”.
The hip-hop trio was due to perform in Toronto and Canada in October; however, the Canadian MP publicly banned the group, writing, “On behalf of the Government of Canada I am announcing that on the advice of our officials, we have deemed the group Kneecap ineligible to enter our country.”
The caption added, “Our government will not tolerate the advocating of political violence, terrorism or Anti-Semitism and hate more broadly.”
In the video, Gasparro, who is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, alleged that “the group have amplified political violence and publicly displayed support for terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.”
At the time, Kneecap hit back with their own statement, “Your comments about us are wholly untrue and deeply malicious. We will not accept it. No member of Kneecap has been convicted of ANY crime in ANY country EVER.” At the time, they promised to take legal action against the MP.
Announcing their legal retaliation, the group shared a statement on Instagram, which began, “In September we said you made comments about us that were wholly untrue and deeply malicious. You did.”
It continued, “It now transpires you also lied by telling the world you were acting on behalf of the Government of Canada’. This was another lie. You were not. Your own government has made this clear.”
Kneecap added, “Today we are serving legal action against you. As we said, we will be relentless in defending ourselves against outrageous and baseless accusations.”
Relentless and determined as ever, they promised, “When we beat you in court, which we will, we will donate every cent of your money to assist the thousands of child amputees in Gaza.”
The band then addressed their fans in Canada, who they reassured that they are working to “resolve ‘compliance issues’ that have been communicated by your IRCC”. However, they insisted that they look forward to playing sold out shows in 2026 “across your land as we have done so in the past.”
See the full statement below.
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