Kneecap Accuses Coachella of Livestream Censorship on Pro-Palestine Statements

Kneecap Claims Coachella Silenced Their Political Statements

Kneecap, the outspoken hip-hop trio from Northern Ireland, is calling Coachella out for allegedly censoring their pro-Palestine statements and other political messages during this year’s festival. The controversy kicked off after fans noticed that some of the band’s boldest onstage moments were missing from Coachella’s official livestream, including their direct criticism of Israel and the U.S. government’s support, as well as a pointed chant against former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

During their second set at the festival, Kneecap didn’t hold back—displaying a huge text message that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F— Israel Free Palestine.” According to the trio, this message and other similar content from both weekends of the festival were left out of the global livestream. They also say their first weekend performance included a crowd chant celebrating Thatcher’s 2013 passing—a reference loaded with meaning for anyone familiar with Irish-British political history—that simply didn't make it into the broadcast. The band claims another sharp-edged remark about British bombing campaigns got lost, too, as it was performed off-camera in the Sonora Tent during the second weekend.

Coachella’s promoter, Goldenvoice, hasn’t said a word publicly about these allegations, leaving a lot of fans and observers to draw their own conclusions. For Kneecap, this isn’t just about missing a few minutes of screen time. They see it as a calculated move to keep their left-wing, anti-occupation views off one of the world’s biggest festival stages—at least in the eyes of viewers tuning in from home.

Green Day’s Reference Makes It Air—Double Standards in the Spotlight

While Kneecap’s messages were reportedly scrubbed, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong did manage to sneak in pro-Palestinian references right into his lyrics, and those moments went out live with no apparent edits. Armstrong tweaked verses in hits like “American Idiot” at Coachella, name-dropping Palestine and shifting the focus from the stage to the very real conflicts happening around the world.

This split in treatment has turned up the heat on discussions around who gets to say what onstage at massive events like Coachella. Why did Armstrong’s references make it to the audience while Kneecap’s bolder text got axed? That question is fueling a wave of criticism from both fans and other artists, with conversations spinning out online and in the music press. Some are comparing the moment to the ways artists like Bob Dylan or Public Enemy once used their platforms to shout about social injustice, pushing back against the status quo with world-watching eyes on them.

The reaction hasn’t been gentle. Fans have blasted the alleged censorship, sticking up for Kneecap’s right to use their spotlight. Quite a few are downright furious, arguing that by picking and choosing which political statements get aired, Coachella is revealing an inconsistent or even biased approach. Support for the band has grown as people learn more about what happened—especially among younger festival-goers who expect the social and political activism of musicians to be front and center, not quietly trimmed away.

Kneecap says they’re not backing down. With plenty of dates still to play in North America, the band plans to keep spotlighting the story and pushing back against what they see as livestream censorship. For them, this is more than just a festival dispute—it’s about having the freedom to call out injustice where they see it, even on the world’s biggest stages.