Kneecap removed from TRNSMT Festival lineup weeks before event
Following the recent charges of terror offences against one of their members, Belfast rap trio Kneecap have been removed from the lineup at this year’s edition of TRNSMT Festival, which is due to take place in Glasgow from July 11th to July 13th.
The band confirmed that they will no longer be performing on the Friday night of the festival via a post on X, which cited a rise in police concerns about the safety of festival attendees as the reason for their withdrawal.
The post begins with a quoted statement that reads: “Due to concerns expressed by the Police about safety at the event, Kneecap can no longer perform at TRNSMT.” The band then further continued in the post to express their apologies to their fans.
“To the thousands of people who bought tickets, flights and hotels to see us play, we are sorry… it is out of our hands. Glasgow has always been a huge city for us. We’ve played there many many times, with no issues – ever. Make of that what you will. To try to make up for it, we will be at your O2 Academy on Tuesday July 8th.”
Rapper Mo Chara was recently charged with terror offences relating to an incident at a concert in 2024, where he was seen waving the flag of Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, who are recognised as a terrorist organisation by the UK government.
As a result of the controversy, Kneecap have been removed from the lineup of several festivals including Hurricane Festival in Germany, and the Eden Sessions in Cornwall, UK. They recently performed a headline set at Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park, London, where they addressed the situation by stating that they were “being made an example of” by pro-Israel lobbyists.
The group are still scheduled to perform at a number of other festivals this summer, including Glastonbury, which Mo Chara cited as being a major factor in why authorities acted so quickly to charge him, stating during their Wide Awake set, “they are trying to silence us.”
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