Kneecap Think Terrorism Is a Laugh – It Isn’t By Baroness Arlene Foster – By Baroness Arlene Foster of Aghadrumsee

I’ve lived rent-free in the heads of the so-called rap group Kneecap for years. I’ve been in their lyrics, on their posters – even strapped to a cartoon rocket alongside the former prime minister Boris Johnson on one poster – But this isn’t satire. It’s sick.

Kneecap aren’t rebels. They’re not witty, daring, or subversive. They’re fanboys for terrorism. Their act is a love letter to the Provisional IRA – and now, it seems, to Hamas and Hezbollah too.

That’s not speculation. That’s why counter-terrorism police are investigating. These lads have posed with literature linked to terror groups, made references glorifying extremist violence, and wrapped it all in “it’s just a joke, mate” branding. It’s not a joke to those who lived through the horrors they idolise.

Let’s be clear: free speech means you’re allowed to offend. But it doesn’t mean you can step over the line into incitement. And it certainly doesn’t mean you can glamorise terrorism without people calling it out. Kneecap have gone from being controversial to being dangerous.

Their name – a direct reference to a brutal punishment used by paramilitaries across Northern Ireland – tells you everything. It’s not an edgy pun. It’s a nod to fear, control and violence. Their whole identity is draped in mock-Provo chic: balaclavas, pseudo-military gear, songs that flirt with glorifying attacks. They don’t even pretend otherwise.

And when called out? Their recent “apology” wasn’t just late – it was laughably limited. They said sorry to the families of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, both murdered by lone extremists. But there was no apology to the families of MPs murdered by the very movement they glorify.

No mention of Airey Neave, killed by a car bomb in the Commons car park in 1979.

No mention of Reverend Robert Bradford, gunned down at a constituency surgery in 1981.

No mention of Sir Anthony Berry, killed in the Brighton bombing in 1984.

Those families got no apology. Why? Because in Kneecap’s world, some victims count – and others don’t.

This is why MPs are absolutely right to warn festivals and venues. Promoters need to be careful. If Kneecap were championing neo-Nazis, they wouldn’t be booked. If they joked about Taliban roadside bombs, they’d be cancelled overnight. So why does republican terror get a pass?

Young people are being sold a sanitised version of violence. Kneecap’s aesthetic is rebellion, but their message is poison. It’s not edgy – it’s extremist. It’s not protest – it’s propaganda.

Kneecap aren’t pushing boundaries. They’re dragging us back into the darkest corners of our past. The public need to stop clapping.