Irish band Kneecap kicked up a crowd chant of “Free Palestine” and projected strong anti-Israel messages this weekend at Coachella, a week after the activist hip-hop trio reportedly had its livestream cut over similar messaging.
The politically provocative group from West Belfast, Northern Ireland, played Saturday during the second weekend of the annual festival in the Southern California desert, taking the stage as the words “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people” appeared above them.
Later in the set, rapper and singer Mo Chara, known for his flow between Irish and English languages, led the crowd to chant “Free Palestine.”
The Times of Israel reported that the band’s messaging from the previous weekend – Coachella repeats identical sets over two weekends every year – had been cut off at some point. On Saturday, the band made sure to capture and post images and video of the performance:
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of it came through the official Coachella livestream, but leftist social media influencer Hasan Piker joined Kneecap onstage and streamed to his own Twitch channel with nearly 3 million followers.
