Kneecap has responded after not being let into Canada, having to cancel more shows. MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Combating Crime Vince Gasparro said that Kneecap has been deemed “ineligible to enter” Canada. Gasparro accused the group of amplifying political violence.
Last month, Irish rap trio Kneecap cancelled their US shows on their fall tour. The group cited the proximity of the dates to their next court hearing related to terrorism charge against member Mo Chara later this month. Now, their planned Canadian shows in October have been cancelled too.
Brooklyn Vegan reports that MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Combating Crime Vince Gasparro has barred the trio from entering Canada, accusing them in a video of having “amplified political violence and publicly displayed support for terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.” “Our government will not tolerate the advocating of political violence, terrorism or Anti-Semitism and hate more broadly,” he wrote on social media.
On Twitter, Kneecap shared a response to Gasparro, saying, “Your comments about us are wholly untrue and deeply malicious. We will not accept it. No member of Kneecap has been convicted of ANY crime in ANY country EVER. Whilst you outrageously try to claim we are antisemitic ‘the Times’ newspaper in England today wrote of our headline show in London last night as ’emphatically anti-sectarian’.We have today instructed our lawyers to initiate legal action against you. We will be relentless in defending ourselves against baseless accusations to silence our opposition to a genocide being committed by Israel. When we beat you in court, which we will, we will donate every cent to assist some of the thousands of child amputees in Gaza.”
They also posted a message to Canadian fans, stating, “Recently many efforts have been made by your government to remove our ability to travel to Canada despite having valid ‘eTA’s. We are aware of significant Zionist lobby groups (Allied voices for Israel, The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs & Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem) attempting to influence your government and its representatives through serious misinformation which we are acting against legally. Yesterday we responded with all information requested of us to the immigration/eTA authorities. It is our view that when they realised there was no legal basis on which to stop us that they today, via Vince Gasparro, sought to maliciously misrepresent Kneecap. We have played in Canada many times with zero issues and a message of solidarity and love. We are sorry we cannot be with you next month but we will not be silenced and will always oppose genocide. Use your voices in Canada – stand up and speak out.”
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