As someone for whom all kinds of music and concerts have been an important part of his life, I must confess that I have never liked rap as a music form; indeed, I have thought of it as a kind of anti-song music. But I am well aware of its African American roots and powerful lyrics which portray their poetic quality. That said, they can, nevertheless, be problematic, so while they often rage against injustice, many American rap stars also express visceral sexism and homophobia.
What has come as a genuine surprise recently is rappers vociferously and publicly showing support for the Palestine cause and, by so doing, risking harm to their careers. Clearly, the motivating force has been the Gaza genocide since October 2023. Three rappers have been at the forefront: Bob Vylan (from Britain), Kneecap (from Ireland), and Macklemore (from the USA).
Bob Vylan
In June 2025, at the Glastonbury Festival, probably the most prestigious music festival in the UK, Bob Vylan’s vocalist (Pascal Robinson-Foster) led the fans in chants of “death, death to the IDF”; “free, free Palestine”; and “from the river to sea, Palestine will be free.” Naturally, there was an immediate response from powerful supporters of Israel who doubtless applied immense pressure on various bodies. This led Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, to issue a veiled threat by stating that the BBC, which broadcasts the festival, “clearly has questions to answer” over its coverage. The Labour government questioned why the comments were aired live, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer opined that the remarks constituted “hate speech.” And yet again, when it comes to Israel, there was cross-party condemnation of both the chants and the BBC’s coverage of them, with the fanatical Zionist shadow home secretary Chris Philp demanding that the police should investigate both Bob Vylan and the BBC “for offences under the Public Order Act,” adding that “prosecutions in my view should follow.”
The BBC, itself notorious for its pro-Israel bias, quickly buckled under the pressure: with hypocritical chutzpah, its spokesperson pronounced that “The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence …The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves.” So, the BBC decided that calling for the death of a military that has committed genocide is incitement to violence and antisemitic—words that could have been uttered by a general of the IDF.
Unsurprisingly, it proceeded to issue a craven apology: “The [BBC] team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen … In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air” (BBC News, 2025, 30 June). Decoding this means that in the future, the BBC will make sure criticisms of Israel are quickly pulled; and they duly removed the concert from BBC iPlayer.
Rather than supporting Bob Vylan and freedom of expression, the organisers of Glastonbury parroted the pro-Israel establishment line by stating that “Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”
Bob Vylan’s courageous performance, nevertheless, did have a harmful effect on their careers as US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the band, who were due to embark on a US tour, would have their visas revoked (BBC News, 30 June 2025).
Though it took a while, to their credit, Bob Vylan did not let this meekly pass by, as in July 2026, they filed defamation proceedings against the BBC in the Dublin High Court. The band firmly rejects the BBC charge of antisemitism, arguing that there is a clear distinction between criticism of the actions of a state’s armed forces and antisemitism (Phoenix Law, 2026). Presumably, following legal advice, the choice of the Dublin High Court over the High Court in London is because it is thought the former will be more objective in deliberating such a case.
Kneecap
Kneecap vociferously shows support for Palestinians in their concerts and calls for the boycott of Israel. For example, at the Coachella Festival in April 2025, they displayed the messages “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people”; “It is being enabled by the US”; “F*** Israel, Free Palestine.” Following this, TV personality and wife of Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne, called for the band’s US visas to be revoked. (The Guardian, 2025), a sign that the band’s support for Palestine and opposition to Israel will affect Kneecap’s careers.
In 2025, a member of the group (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, stage name, Mo Chara) was charged by the Metropolitan Police with a terror offence after allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London concert in 2024 (BBC News, 2025, 21 May). Though this was thrown out, the insinuation meant that Kneecap were in the crosshairs of supporters of Israel, none more so than Keir Starmer who called for the cancellation of their appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2025 arguing that it was “not appropriate.” The band hit back, writing on social media: “You know what’s ‘not appropriate’ Keir?! Arming a f***ing genocide. F*** The Sun and solidarity with Palestine Action.” (The Independent, 2025, 22 June).
Unlike their cowardice over Bob Vylan, to their credit the organisers of Glastonbury did not cancel Kneecap’s appearance. However, the BBC refused to broadcast their concert live but, after carefully scrutinising it, allowed viewers to access footage on BBC iPlayer. But that was not the end of the matter as the local police force stated that they were assessing video footage to determine whether any offences had been committed that might warrant a criminal investigation which they later aborted citing insufficient evidence for a prosecution (The Independent, 2025, 29 June).
Kneecap’s support for Palestine also caused harm to their career as planned concerts in Hungary were banned by the Hungarian government. Kneecap retorted by stating that “it’s clear this is political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinians” (BBC News, 2025, 24 July) Scheduled concerts in Germany and Austria were also cancelled by the authorities while the band cancelled their US tour because of legal action in the UK against Mo Chara.
Macklemore
Macklemore is an active supporter of the Palestinian cause. For example, in November 2023, at a pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, D.C., he denounced Israel for committing genocide in Gaza (Billboard, 2023) and in May 2024, he released a song, “Hind’s Hall,” in honour of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the IDF in Gaza, in support of protests against the Gaza war at American universities and donated all proceeds to UNWRA.
Macklemore’s name gained enormous publicity in September 2026, when he was removed from Ed Sheeran’s US tour following concerts in New Jersey where he was the opening act following pressure from pro-Israel individuals and groups, including Jewish Zionist billionaire Robert Kraft, owner of the Gillette Stadium. The reason for his cancellation was remarks he made to the audience:
A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine.
The following night, at the same venue, he directly addressed his “Jewish brothers and sisters” in the audience:
Criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, is in no way a criticism of you (BBC News, 2026, 14 September).
Rather than pushing back against this censorship, Sheeran proved an unprincipled coward. In stark contrast, all his other opening acts as well as his band members showed solidarity with Macklemore and immediately pulled out of the tour. Macklemore announced that he would donate $1 million, his entire net earnings from Sheeran’s tour to six organisations supporting Palestinians.
While Macklemore was financially harmed by his being cancelled from Sheeran’s tour, he immediately announced three concerts under the heading “Free Palestine Tour” in Dublin, Paris, and London, with proceeds going to various organisations supporting Palestinians. Tickets for all three, which were at major venues, quickly sold out.
So, these three rap acts have been courageous and inspirational, willing to withstand harms to their careers for principle, and against some of the most powerful forces in the world. One hopes that they will prove to be a beacon for other music stars, who should similarly take courage and follow suit.