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The tale of the Northern Irish rap group, the Tories – and the sinister censoring of 'anti-British' art | Anna Cafolla


The UK government has blocked funding to Republican band Kneecap. Who knew patriotism was a requirement in the arts, asks journalist Anna Cafolla

“Guess who’s back on the news, it’s your favourite Republican hoods,” spits Móglaí Bap on Kneecap’s 2019 track, Get Your Brits Out – a roiling, riotous tune, rapped in both English and Irish, in which the trio imagine a drug-fuelled night out with DUP politicians. Their application to the Music Export Growth Scheme – an independent, government-backed arts initiative that offers grants to promote artists overseas – had been approved, before the government stepped in to rescind the funding. They regularly discuss Britain’s need to confront its colonial past in interviews, led a ​ “Brits out” chant at a pub Prince William and Kate had previously visited and unveiled a mural of a burning police Land Rover in Belfast.

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