It’s been some week for the Belfast trio.
Irish rap group Kneecap have hit out at a British tabloid after the publication wrote a hit piece mentioning that the group had been accused of ‘glorified the IRA’.
The piece in The Daily Mail reported that £1.6million of UK public money funded a film about the rappers, who they say are “accused of glorifying the IRA and stoking sectarian hatred.”
The piece went on to say that “bomb victims accused the group of being ‘sectarian bigots’ and glamourising terrorism”, with the hip-hop trio responding by saying that “pissing off the Daily Mail” was the best part of their week.
We only need to be lucky once ? https://t.co/kj2JCygqfY
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) January 22, 2024
Kneecap call out British tabloid over controversial hit piece against Irish act
The Belfast rappers are well known for taking a jab at the British through a satirical lens and are no strangers to controversy.
However, it seems their rising popularity is a bit too much for some areas of the British press as the controversial tabloid piece says that “victims of Republican and Loyalist terror atrocities said they were appalled that vast sums of taxpayers’ and National Lottery cash” went towards funding their film.
As well as being awarded National Lottery funding, Kneecap was also funded by BFI, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, TG4 and Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund and Screen Fund.
The piece also says that a mural revealed by the act of a burning police Land Rover above the Irish language slogan: ‘No welcome for the RUC’ “provoked horror in Northern Ireland”.
Kneecap movie receives rave reviews after Sundance premiere
The trio’s film has been receiving widespread acclaim since it opened the Sundance Film Festival last week, and is now slated for an international release.
The Irish language biopic, which currently holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, stars the band’s Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí in their acting debuts, alongside Oscar-nominee Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby (Hidden Assets) and Josie Walker (The Wonder).
The trio arrived on the red carpet at Sundance in a fully kitted-out Northern Irish PSNI Land Rover, complete with the band’s name spray painted across the vehicle, saying that the stunt was “designed to provoke reaction and conversation around the Irish language and Irish politics as the world watches”.
In a post to X on Monday, Kneecap wrote: “We arrived in Utah on Thursday and in the 5 days since…Premiered at Sundance, sold our movie to Sony, drove an armoured Peeler jeep about, got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. But the best past of the last 5 days…Pissing off the Daily Mail”
We arrived in Utah on Thursday and in the 5 days since…
? Premiered at Sundance
? Sold out movie to Sony
? Drove an armoured Peeler jeep about
? Got 100% on rotten ?But the best past of the last 5 days…
Pissing off the Daily Mail ? pic.twitter.com/B3ASBd8KwX
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) January 22, 2024
The comedy is slated for an Irish release sometime in 2024 and was included in JOE’s list of the most exciting movies coming out this year.
Related articles:
- Andrew Scott stars in trailer for new Netflix series Ripley
- Netflix has just added one of the best sci-fi movies of recent years
- Kneecap movie lands major deal to screen around the world after rave reviews
- Prime Video adds one of the funniest Irish comedies of recent years
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
