{"id":157017,"date":"2025-06-04T08:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T08:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157017\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T08:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T08:29:09","slug":"edinburghs-shirley-manson-backs-kneecap-in-free-speech-row-as-fans-call-for-trnsmt-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/157017\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh’s Shirley Manson backs Kneecap in free speech row as fans call for TRNSMT boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edinburgh-born singer <\/a>Shirley Manson has backed Northern Irish hip hop trio Kneecap and called for free speech over Gaza after they were removed from the TRNSMT festival.<\/p>\n

Manson, 58, says she supports the band after they were ditched by the TRNSMT <\/a>line-up due to safety concerns, reports The Daily Record.<\/a><\/p>\n

Describing the trio as \u201cdecent young artists\u201d, the Garbage singer insisted they had a right to criticise an Israeli government which is accused of carrying out a genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

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She said: \u201cDid Kneecap exercise the best judgment in their choice of words?<\/p>\n

\u201cI see why some people freaked out, but we all know deep down that they\u2019re decent young artists trying to affect change in some way and get us all to at least recognise that these people exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I sympathise with the fear and the historical suffering, the ancestral pain, I still don\u2019t understand how anyone can see what\u2019s going on in Gaza and not be crying out for it to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

She admitted that she could face a backlash for her support of the Belfast group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manson said: \u201cI find it perplexing. I understand that\u2019s just a tactic to shut people up.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s entitled to their opinion. If you\u2019re not physically hurting anyone, you\u2019re entitled to express it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat everyone is begging for is for the slaughter to stop and I don\u2019t see how anyone could argue against that, but they accuse us of being terrorist supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you cancel me, you cancel me\u2026 If you cancel us, I\u2019ll feel guilty that I\u2019ve messed sh** up for my band, but I\u2019d much rather be true to who I am as a human being, how I was raised by a family I\u2019m very proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kneecap\u2019s removal from this summer\u2019s TRNSMT <\/a>bill has led to calls from hundreds of music fans to boycott the festival.<\/p>\n

One fan, Laura, posted on X: \u201cJust sold my TRNSMT ticket. No Kneecap, no attendance. Not going to a festival that silences people for calling out a genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another, Rosanna Tarsiero, posted: \u201cLet\u2019s all just pull out of TRNSMT – forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fearghas Kelly said: \u201clove the concept of boycotting TRNSMT. It\u2019s like boycotting ready salted crisps in a meal deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee backed the boycott in a statement that said: \u201cTRNSMT say they are acting on \u2018police concerns\u2019 over \u2018public safety\u2019. This is a spurious claim and a cowardly evasion by TRNSMT in seeking to remove the band and avoid responsibility for their own decision. Boycott TRNSMT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for <\/b>Edinburgh Live newsletters<\/b><\/a> for more headlines straight to your inbox<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edinburgh-born singer Shirley Manson has backed Northern Irish hip hop trio Kneecap and called for free speech over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,2194,4884,28538,712,65597,66602,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-157017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-gaza","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-kneecap","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-shirley-manson","15":"tag-trnsmt-festival","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}