Like their fellow Irishmen Kneecap, post-punk band the Murder Capital have been facing some pushback over their public advocacy for Palestine and their condemnation of the Israeli government's ongoing genocide. During recent shows, they've been waving a Palestinian flag onstage, and that's apparently been getting them into some hot water with certain venues. After the Gretchen Club in Berlin said the Murder Capital couldn't mention Palestine during their scheduled show last night, the band gave a statement outside the venue about their choice to not perform there. Here's what James McGovern said:
I'm speaking totally from the band's point of view. I'm not speaking from our crew or from our management or anything like that, OK? It's just from our point of view. We pulled in to Berlin this morning. We had no idea that we weren't allowed to fly this flag here today. We found out early this afternoon, this is from the band's point of view. We discussed it for an hour at length what we should do. We came to the decision that we were not going to take the flag off the stage. That was a decision pretty easily made, but we discussed possible outcomes. What if they decide to cancel the show. We thought about all of you deeply because we care about you deeply, and I mean that. And our decision was that we're going to put the flag on stage. We put it up at about 2 p.m. as we set up the stage, ready to play. After that, we discussed a little bit on and off. Would we replace the flag with a banner that said Free Palestine? They wouldn't allow us to do that either. So it's not just about national flags. It's about political statements. And to us this isn't just a political statement, it's a humanitarian statement. We've been saying that in interviews. For the whole time that we've been speaking about it as people, it's not all about politics, it's about people who are dying and being slaughtered every day, and that's happening right now. So, for us as a band, Who's had this flag on their stage for countless shows now. It would be the wrong thing for us to do to take it off the stage just so that the venue is kept happy. We don't agree with that. We don't agree. We spoke earlier today about this, about how we wish live music and art and theater could be free of political discussion and things like that, but as the world as it is, unfortunately it just cannot be. That's the way it is, so we'll be back to you as soon as we can. We appreciate all your support deeply. But most importantly, free Palestine.
Instead, the Murder Capital did a shortened outdoors acoustic set. That's also their plan for tonight in Cologne, as McGovern shared an update today saying they couldn't find a venue in the city that would let them make pro-Palestine statements. See the posts below.
A statement about tonight’s show in Cologne. More details to follow. Free Palestine. pic.twitter.com/rtUjhg4hvJ
— The Murder Capital (@MurderCapital_) May 11, 2025
Locationhttps://t.co/W7z58k15kT pic.twitter.com/LfGpFpCdxv
— The Murder Capital (@MurderCapital_) May 11, 2025
