Kneecap wins high-profile discrimination case against the UK Government

It comes after the British Government refused to give the Belfast-based rap group an arts grant.

In February, the Belfast-based band said it would launch legal proceedings after the British Government confirmed it had blocked the trio from receiving "significant" music funding.

At the time, the group said: "We've just been informed that our application to the 'Music Export Growth Scheme' (MEGS) was independently approved and signed off by selection board.

"It was then blocked directly by the British Government who overruled the independent selection board.

"We're told that our 2019 'Farewell to the Union' tour poster pissed off the Tories.

"Once again the British government is trying to silence voices from West Belfast – once again it will fail!

"Fair f***s the artists who got the funding... Fight censorship".

Responding to Kneecap's claims at the time, a spokesperson for then UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “We fully support freedom of speech, but it’s hardly surprising that we don’t want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself.”

The “significant music funding” amounted to £14,250.

On Friday (29 November), a Belfast court ruled that the UK Government acted illegally when it withheld the funding to Kneecap on account of the band's political views.

As such, the group were awarded the £14,250.

Ahead of the short court proceedings on Friday, Kneecap member DJ Próvaí arrived at the Belfast High Court in a repurposed RUC Land Rover.

We’re at the “royal” courts of justice in Belfast here to steal some of the kings money (hopefully)🔥 pic.twitter.com/UFaWvgSkT3

— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) November 29, 2024

In a statement following the court's decision, the band said: "Today, unsurprisingly the British government's own courts ruled that they acted illegally in stopping funding to Kneecap.

Continuing, Kneecap added: "They don’t like that we oppose British rule, that we don’t believe that England serves anyone in Ireland and the working classes on both sides of the community deserve better; deserve funding, deserve appropriate mental health services, deserve to celebrate music and art and deserve the freedom to express our culture.

"They broke their own laws in trying to silence Kneecap. The reason for this was they didn’t like our art, in particular our beautiful 2019 tour poster of Boris Johnson on a rocket.

"They didn’t like our views, in particular our opposition to the ‘United Kingdom’ itself and our belief in a United Ireland which is our right to do.

"They didn’t like the fact that we are totally opposed to all they represent, embodied right now by their arming of genocide in Gaza.

"What they did was a fascist type action, attempt to block art that does not agree with their views after an independent body made a decision.

"Their own courts has now found in Kneecap’s favour, as we knew they would.

"They have tried to silence us and they have failed."

The group also thanked its lawyer Darragh Mackin and its barristers Joe Brolly and Ronan Lavery.

"They told us at the outset ‘This was a penalty kick with no goalkeeper’…and it sure was, back of the net," the band added, before signing off the statement with "Free Palestine!".

A spokesperson for the UK Department of Business and Trade told JOE: “This Government’s priority is to get on delivering the change we promised and protect the taxpayer from further expense, so we will not continue to contest Kneecap’s challenge as we do not believe it in the public interest.

“The music industry is the heart and soul of our economy and are committed to helping acts continue to thrive and break into new markets, including through our MEGS programme – which has helped around 400 artists tour the globe.”

Main image via Twitter/Kneecap

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