The Hungarian government on Thursday barred the provocative Irish rap group Kneecap from entering the country and performing at the upcoming Sziget festival, accusing the band of “antisemitic hate speech.”
The Belfast trio, scheduled to play on Sziget’s closing day on August 11, is known for anarchic energy, satirical lyrics, and use of symbolism associated with the Irish republican movement, which seeks to unite Northern Ireland, currently part of the UK, with the Republic of Ireland.
The group has faced criticism for lyrics laden with expletives and drug references and for political statements seeming to glorify terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Kneecap has accused critics of trying to silence the band because of its support for the Palestinian cause throughout Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and says it doesn’t support Hezbollah and Hamas nor condone violence. It has drawn criticism and police scrutiny, however, after videos emerged allegedly showing the band shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
The anti-Israel comments on stage at the Glastonbury Festival in June also drew global condemnation.
While Kneecap has denied any terrorism connection, singer Liam O’Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, has been charged with a “terror” offense in the UK for appearing to wave a Hezbollah flag at a performance last year.
He is due to appear in a London court in August.
The rappers have been taken off the bill for festivals in Scotland and Germany this year because of the controversy. However, they are scheduled to appear at France’s Rock en Seine on August 24.
Hungary’s immigration authority, the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing, published decrees on Thursday declaring Kneecap members Naoise Ó Cairealláin, J.J. Ó Dochartaigh, and Liam Óg ÓhAnnaidh would be banned from Hungary’s territory for three years since their “entry and stay constitute a serious threat to national security.”
“Hungary’s government has moved to ban @KneecapCEOL from entering the country and performing at @szigetofficial — citing antisemitic hate speech and open praise for Hamas and Hezbollah as justification,” government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs wrote on X.
“Granting them a stage normalizes hate and terror, and puts democratic values on the line,” Kovacs wrote, citing Hungary’s “duty to protect” its Jewish community.
The travel ban can be challenged within 30 days.
Kneecap did not immediately respond to a request for comment by AFP.
Almost 300 Hungarian artists, including Oscar-winning film director Laszlo Nemes, joined a petition protesting the trio’s planned Sziget performance.
Facing growing pressure, festival organizer Tamas Kadar said there was no “good answer” to the issue.
“We do not tolerate hate speech in any form — and that includes antisemitism,” but “we remain committed to the spirit of free expression” and “will not act as censors,” Kadar wrote in an op-ed published last week by a Hungarian newspaper.
Hungary is one of Israel’s closest allies in the European Union, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban directing police to ban pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rallies following Hamas’s massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.