French town withdraws music festival funding over Kneecap booking

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025/07/17/french-town-withdraws-music-festival-funding-over-kneecap-booking/#:~:text=The%20municipal%20authority%20for%20the,of%20Belfast%20rap%20band%20Kneecap.

The municipal authority for the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud, which hosts the annual Rock-en-Seine music festival, has decided to withdraw a €40,000 subsidy for the event due to its booking of Belfast rap band Kneecap.

The rap trio, who perform in Irish and English, has been consistently in headlines since their Coachella performance in April when they faced American backlash over their comments about Gaza during the gig.

A number of Kneecap’s gigs were cancelled after Coachella, with UK ministers, including prime minister Keir Starmer, speaking out against the group’s appearance at Glastonbury.

Kneecap is scheduled to play on the final day of the Rock-en-Seine festival, which takes place from August 21st to August 24th.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Saint-Cloud city hall said the money had been agreed before the final line-up of the festival was announced and that it had decided to withdraw the funding on July 3rd.

The Saint-Cloud city said it respected the festival’s programming freedom and had not sought “to enter into any negotiations with a view to influencing the programming”.

“On the other hand it does not finance political action, nor demands, and even less calls to violence, such as calls to kill lawmakers, whatever their nationality,” the statement said.

Rock-en-Seine could not be immediately reached for comment.

Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a flag of Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed militant group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Britain.

He denies the offence and the band said its members do not support Hamas or Hizbullah. – Reuters