Kneecap have been banned from Hungary for three years ahead of their planned performance at Sziget 2025.
The Irish rap trio were due to play at the Budapest festival this year, but the government have now announced the group won’t be able to enter the country at all.
Secretary of State Zoltan Kovacs took to X/Twitter to announced that Kneecap “are officially banned from entering Hungary—for anti-Semitism and glorifying terror. When hate ignores the mail, we put it on a wall.”
Kovacs went on to say that “Hungary has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism in any form”, adding that their appearance at Sziget “posed a national security threat”, and “for this reason, the group has been formally banned from Hungary for three years. If they enter, expulsion will follow under international norms.”
In a statement shared with NME, Sziget called the ban “an unprecedented move which we believe is both unnecessary and regrettable.” They added that the band had “reassured us that their performance would not contravene either Sziget’s values or Hungarian law”.
“Sziget Festival’s values mean we condemn hate speech, while guaranteeing the fundamental right to artistic freedom of expression for every performer. Cancel culture and cultural boycotts are not the solution,” they wrote.
“Over the past 30 years, Sziget has served as a free and safe place for different cultures, hosting artists and visitors from around the world, earning significant recognition in the international community and enhancing Hungary’s reputation. We fear that government’s decision announced today to ban Kneecap may not only damage the reputation of Sziget, but also negatively affect Hungary’s standing worldwide.”
They concluded the statement by affirming that “Sziget Festival will continue to do everything in its power to remain, in every sense, The Island of Freedom.”
NME have approached Kneecap for comment.
🚫 @KneecapCEOL are officially banned from entering Hungary—for antisemitism and glorifying terror. When hate ignores the mail, we put it on a wall.
📢 This is what we call “service by public notice.” In plain English: if you won’t read the letter, you’ll see it on the poster. pic.twitter.com/K2lJ0L2mi1
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) July 24, 2025
📢 As I’ve already announced. Here it is, straight from the Government Information Center:
🚫 @KneecapCEOL’s members repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups. Hungary has zero tolerance for antisemitism in any form.
❌Their planned…
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) July 24, 2025
The band have found themselves making headlines due to member Mo Chara allegedly shouting “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah” and displaying a Hezbollah flag on stage. Chara has since appeared in court and been granted unconditional bail; he is due to appear in court again on August 20.
Kneecap went on to declare at festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury that Israel is committing a “genocide” in Gaza. Since their Coachella appearance, the Belfast trio have denied accusations of anti-Semitism, claiming that “those attacking us want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter. They weaponise false accusations of antisemitism to distract, confuse, and provide cover for genocide”.
Their Glastonbury set would later be investigated by the police, with the investigation closed weeks later with no further action taken.
The band responded to the news by claiming that “every single person who saw our set knew no law was broken, not even close….yet the police saw fit to publicly announce they were opening an investigation.” They then asked: “Why open and publicise an investigation into fuck all? This is political. This is targeted. This is state intimidation.”
Kneecap concluded their statement with: “We will continue to fight. We will continue to win.”
In the wake of their controversies, the band have been dropped from a number of lineups including TRNSMT, Germany’s Hurricane Festival and Southside Festivals, and Cornwall’s Eden Project.
Meanwhile, Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Shawn Mendes, A$AP Rocky, Post Malone, and Kid Cudi are all set to headline the Hungarian festival from August 6-11.
In other news, Massive Attack have announced an alliance of musicians speaking out over Gaza against “intimidations from within our industry”.
