The daughter of the Conservative MP who was stabbed to death has called on the Irish-language rap group Kneecap to apologise over comments in which they allegedly called for politicians to be killed.
Counter-terrorism police are assessing a video that has emerged of the west Belfast trio at a November 2023 gig, which appears to show one person from the band saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”
Katie Amess, whose father, David Amess, was murdered by an Islamic State fanatic in his Southend West constituency in 2021, said she was “gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric”.
She said the band’s alleged comments were deeply upsetting for her and her family.
“It is just beyond belief that human beings would speak like that in this day and age and it is extremely dangerous,” Amess told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme.
Amess said there were “absolute nutters” who could be incentivised by the alleged comments, and the band should apologise to her and “every other person that has been offended by this”.
Downing Street described Kneecap’s alleged comments as “completely unacceptable”. Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson said on Monday: “We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding.”
The Metropolitan police force said its counter-terrorism internet referral unit was also assessing a second video from another gig that seemed to show a Kneecap member shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a performance at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in November 2024, and a Hezbollah flag being displayed.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, has since called for police to prosecute the group. “Kneecap’s glorification of terrorism and anti-British hatred has no place in our society,” she posted on X. “After the murder of Sir David Amess, this demands prosecution.”
Badenoch blocked a government grant to the group while she was business secretary. Last year Kneecap won a discrimination challenge over the decision to refuse them a £14,250 funding award, after the UK government conceded it was “unlawful”.
Amess said she was prepared to meet the band and have a conversation with them. “I’m sure deep down they are nice people. Hopefully they just made a mistake and are going to apologise for it.”
On Monday, Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, was asked to comment on calls from some of the band’s critics for its members to be denied a new US visa. He said it would “benefit the entire conversation if Kneecap were to clarify really urgently their position in respect of Hezbollah [and] Hamas, and also their very clear denunciation of any violence or threat of violence against public representatives”.
Earlier this month, the former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne called for Kneecap’s US work visas to be revoked after they displayed messages about the war in Gaza during their set at Coachella festival.
After Coachella, Kneecap – Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh – hit back at criticisms, saying: “Statements aren’t aggressive. Murdering 20,000 children is though.”
Their manager, Daniel Lambert, said the band had received death threats after Coachella, which were “too severe to get into”.
