Hungarian authorities have banned Irish rap group Kneecap from entering the country to perform at the Sziget Festival, accusing the band of using antisemitic hate speech and praising the Hamas militant group.
Belfast-based Kneecap, who regularly display pro-Palestinian messages during their gigs, have caused controversy elsewhere in recent months, including at Britain’s Glastonbury Festival, where frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – known by the name Mo Chara – accused Israel of committing war crimes.
“The members of Kneecap continuously and repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech that supports terrorism and terrorists. Hungary has zero tolerance for all forms of antisemitism. The band’s performance before large audiences in Hungary would violate our national security interests due to their antisemitic views. Therefore, the competent authorities of the Hungarian government have issued a public decision banning the band members from entering Hungary for three years. Should they attempt to enter the country, we will act in accordance with international expulsion practices,” said Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs and Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, János Bóka.
“Hungary’s government has moved to ban Kneecap from entering the country and performing at Sziget … citing antisemitic hate speech and open praise for Hamas and Hezbollah as justification,” government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs wrote in a post on X.
Kovacs later posted the official letters from immigration authorities banning the band for three years, claiming that their entry would “seriously threaten national security”.
Hungary’s government had already asked festival organisers to drop Kneecap from the line-up at the week-long event, which draws several hundred thousand music lovers to an island in the River Danube each year.
More than 150 artists and cultural figures, including Academy Award-winning director Laszlo Nemes Jeles, have also signed a petition protesting against Kneecap’s participation.
Sziget organisers, who said they had not been notified of the government’s decision, have resisted the calls to scrap Kneecap’s planned performance on August 11.
“Our festival remains true to what we have consistently achieved over the past 30 years: there is no place for hatred, incitement, prejudice, or any form of racism or anti-Semitism,” they said in a statement last week.
