A Welsh woman who went viral on Saturday after thousands tuned in to her livestream of Kneecap’s Glastonbury set has said it was important that the band’s performance was shown in its entirety to highlight the genocide in Palestine.
Helen Wilson, from Swansea, who quickly became known as ‘Helen from Wales’ on social media, decided to livestream Kneecap’s Saturday performance at the festival after the BBC chose not to air the set live.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury. PICTURE: PA (Ben Birchall/PA)
The rappers’ appearance was later made available to watch on the iPlayer service, however it was reported that the BBC had wanted to ‘consider’ the group’s performance before uploading it to its on-demand service.
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Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, AKA Mo Chara, has been charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London gig last year.
He has denied the charge, and his case is due to be heard again at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 20.
Ms Wilson told The Irish News that she felt the BBC’s decision not to broadcast the performance live had been a “deliberate act of silence”.
Helen Wilson, who has been attending Glastonbury for 26 years, decided to stream Kneecap’s set on her TikTok account (@helensmashinglife).
The Swansea native, who has been coming to the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset for 26 years, was working at this year’s festival with sustainable waste management company Critical Waste.
“I’d been thinking about it for a few days,” she said.
“I’m a big fan of Kneecap, and I’ve obviously been following what’s been happening with them, and so a few days ago, I had the idea to do a live on TikTok, but at the time, I was supposed to be working a shift.
“Luckily my manager allowed my friend and I to go down to the Kneecap set.”
After starting to stream the performance on her account @helensmashinglife, she said she realised she “couldn’t stop” once she became aware of how many people had tuned in – despite her phone overheating as temperatures peaked at 27 degrees.
Kneecap performing on stage at Glastonbury on Saturday. PICTURE: PA (Yui Mok/PA)
“I was holding my phone in the air and there was very quickly around 7,000 people (watching),” she said.
The livestream accumulated over 1.8 million likes and has since been seen by thousands more as it was reshared on other platforms.
Kneecap also acknowledged her efforts, describing her as a “legend” in a comment under her video.
“Tickets to any show just (give us) a shout! GRMA,” they wrote.
While Ms Wilson admitted it was “amazing” to have the band and hundreds of others reach out to her, she said that the issues of free speech and the ongoing genocide in Gaza were what was most important.
“This is about the genocide in Palestine – this is not even about this festival,” she said.
“This is about this wide issue that everybody needs to sit up and take notice of.
“This festival has always stood for more than just music; I believe that Glastonbury is about freedom and a resistance, and people come to this festival who do believe that another world is possible.
“I don’t agree with artists being silenced – when institutions avoid politically outspoken artists, I think that it’s up to us, the fans, to make sure their voices are still heard.”
Ms Wilson said that she hopes to see Kneecap in Wales soon.
“If they’d like to come and play in Wales, we’d love to have them,” she added.