Kneecap’s Mo Chara has been charged with a terror offence
After coming under fire for his political messages, Liam Og O Hannaidh, of the band Kneecap has been charged with committing a terrorist offence for one of the Irish group’s shows in November 2024.
The band have been under public scrutiny for their various political statements onstage, which resulted in many people wanting to ban them from performing at major concert venues. Since making comments surrounding the ongoing conflict in Israel, a full investigation has been opened on them by counter-terrorism police.
The charges have come from a video showing O Hannaidh, who goes by his stage name Mo Chara, waving a flag at one of the Irish rap group’s shows on November 21st, 2024, at the O2 Forum in London. The flag was shown to be in support of Hamas and Hezbollah, which are seen as terrorist organisations in the UK. Though Chara has been charged for his actions, his day in court will not come until June 18th, 2025.
Throughout 2025, the band have made it a habit of expressing their political views onstage. During their performance at the Coachella Festival, they had made remarks surrounding what Chara described as ” the US-backed genocide in Gaza,” which was subsequently cut from the live stream of the event online.
This led to Sharon Osbourne speaking up to have Kneecap banned from any future performances, saying that any major festival “should not be a venue for promoting terrorist organisations or spreading hate.” The footage from November also got the attention of various politicians, who had called for the band to be banned from the Glastonbury festival, with a second video emerging where the band encouraged the crowd to “kill your local MP.”
After the November footage resurfaced, a major investigation began. The Metropolitan Police claimed the Belfast trio’s actions had been “referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.”
Kneecap have refuted the claims against them, calling the operation a smear campaign and denying any affiliation with Hamas and Hezbollah. They have also since issued an apology to the family members of murdered MPs.
Despite their controversy, Kneecap has garnered support from several members of the music community. On April 30th, various musicians signed an open letter in support of the group’s actions, saying that “no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals.” Pulp, Massive Attack, and Paul Weller were among the first to sign the letter, followed by musicians such as Tom Morello and Brian Eno.
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