Earlier today, Canadian member of parliament Vince Gasparro announced that Kneecap are "ineligible to enter our country." In a video, Gasparro declared that "as parliamentary secretary for combatting crime, I am announcing that effective immediately the members of Kneecap have been deemed ineligible to enter Canada. Canada stands firmly against hate speech, incitements to violence, and the glorification of terrorism."
The Irish-rapping trio have already responded with two statements -- one for Vince Gasparro and another directed at Canadian fans. In the former, they called Gasparro's words "wholly untrue and deeply malicious" and will be taking legal action against the MP.
Their full statement to Gasparro reads:
A Message to Vince Gasparro
Your comments about us are wholly untrue and deeply malicious. We will not accept it. No member of Kneecap has been convicted of ANY crime in ANY country EVER.
Whilst you outrageously try to claim we are antisemitic 'the Times' newspaper in England today wrote of our headline show in London last night as 'emphatically anti-sectarian'.
We have today instructed our lawyers to initiate legal action against you.
We will be relentless in defending ourselves against baseless accusations to silence our opposition to a genocide being committed by Israel.When we beat you in court, which we will, we will donate every cent to assist some of the thousands of child amputees in Gaza.
Their statement directed to fans explained that there are specific Zionist groups spreading misinformation about them in order to influence the Canadian government and affect their ability to tour despite having played in the Canada various times "with zero issues and a message of solidarity and love." The message in full reads:
A message to Canadian Fans
Recently many efforts have been made by your government to remove our ability to travel to Canada despite having valid 'eTA's.
We are aware of significant Zionist lobby groups (Allied voices for Israel, The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs & Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem) attempting to influence your government and its representatives through serious misinformation which we are acting against legally.
Yesterday we responded with all information requested of us to the immigration/eTA authorities.
It is our view that when they realised there was no legal basis on which to stop us that they today, via Vince Gasparro, sought to maliciously misrepresent Kneecap.We have played in Canada many times with zero issues and a message of solidarity and love.
We are sorry we cannot be with you next month but we will not be silenced and will always oppose genocide.Use your voices in Canada - stand up and speak out.
Thursday, Kneecap performed their biggest headlining show outside of Ireland at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Gurriers and Jelani Blackman opened the show. Kneecap were also joined by Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall with a video that denounced apartheid and genocide. The film -- which was shared on Massive Attack's socials today -- highlights how cultural spaces are dominated or owned by corporations complicit with the Palestinian genocide, but artists, consumers, and citizens still have the power to dissent. "You are the watershed."
Find both responses and the video below.
On behalf of the Government of Canada I am announcing that on the advice of our officials, we have deemed the group Kneecap ineligible to enter our country.
Our government will not tolerate the advocating of political violence, terrorism or Anti-Semitism and hate more broadly. pic.twitter.com/3KOf84G3bZ
— Vince Gasparro (@vgasparro) September 19, 2025
A message to Vince Gasparro and our many fans across Canada. 👇 https://t.co/66avCapPgn pic.twitter.com/ySsrgpMs6J
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) September 19, 2025
