It’s no secret that Irish rap trio Kneecap have been making some high-profile headlines lately, over the controversial ways they’ve gone about expressing support for Palestine. Now, they’re beefing with Disturbed frontman David Draiman, whom they referred to as a “straight up cunt.”
First, some backstory… Kneecap’s public support of the Palestinian people first drew attention back in April during their Coachella set, when they displayed some messages from the stage, including: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people…It is being enabled by the US,” and “Fuck Israel / Free Palestine.”
This led to a massive outcry against the group, including Sharon Osbourne calling for their visas to be revoked over the alleged “hate speech.” Recently, Rage Against the Machine co-founder and guitarisrt Tom Morello praised Kneecap in an interview, heralding them as “the Rage Against The Machine of now.”
“[They’re at] the top of the list. I mean, they’re clearly the Rage Against The Machine of now. Like, there’s them and there’s a gap to the next one,” Morello told George Stroumboulopoulos during an appearance on The Strombo Show.
Stroumboulopoulos pressed Morello over heradling Kneecap through their controversial comments, to which the guitarist explained, “What they’re doing in their art is what people could probably stand to do more in their lives: to really speak truth to power. And, you know, Kneecap are not terrorists.”
He then added: “What is terroristic is, you know, 20,000 dead Palestinian children. That’s the story. Not some Irish rappers who don’t like that that’s happening. [That] should not be the story.”
Draiman caught wind of the comments and criticized Morello as “shameful” for praising Kneecap. “Wish I could say I was shocked,” he said. “Guess my family doesn’t count, when it comes to my ‘friend’s’ virtue signaling for those who support terror, and incite Jew hatred.”
This brings us to this week… Kneecap responded to Draiman’s comments by sharing a post on X (formerly Twitter) that contains a photo of Draiman autographing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) missiles with messages like “Fuck Hamas.”
“We don’t care what religion anyone is…or if they’ve one at all. We love all sound cunts,” the group wrote in the post shown above. “Smiling and signing bombs dropped to murder kids and other people’s families just makes you a straight up cunt. Simple as.” They then ended their post: “Free Palestine.”
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