Sharon Osbourne calls for Kneecap’s US visa to be revoked over pro-Palestine statements during Coachella setby Chris Cooke | Apr 23, 2025 | CMU

Sharon Osbourne has criticised Kneecap for projecting anti-Israel statements onto screens at the end of their Coachella set. She even calls for the US to revoke the band’s visa, a call that comes amid increased concern that activist artists may be refused entry into the US with Trump as President

Sharon Osbourne has called for Kneecap’s US touring visa to be revoked after they made provocative anti-Israel statements at the end of their second Coachella performance this weekend. In a social media post she also criticised the festival’s promoter Goldenvoice and the Northern Irish band’s agents Independent Artists Group.

The call for Kneecap’s visa to be revoked, preventing them from performing shows in the US, comes amid increased concerns in the music community that artists - and even industry execs - who have championed certain political causes in the past might be refused entry into the country as immigration officials become more hardline under the Trump administration.

Although performer visa experts say they are yet to see clients being “routinely denied entry” into the US based on social media or other public comments, there have been some incidents where it is thought past political activism may have been a factor.

And the US Deputy Secretary Of State Christopher Landau recently posted on X that “I’m a firm believer in freedom of expression, but that doesn’t mean that expression should be free of consequences”.

That was in the specific context of a Mexican band being refused a visa after featuring images of a drug kingpin in their live shows. His statement concluded, “The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists”.

For anyone who knows Kneecap’s output, the fact they included political messaging in their Coachella performances was no surprise.

Their performance during the festival’s first weekend featured an anti-Margaret Thatcher chant and calls for a united Ireland. Meanwhile their second set included comments in support of Palestine and ended with the display of three strongly worded pro-Palestine and anti-Israel statements.

In her post on Instagram, Osbourne said that Kneecap took their Coachella performance “to a different level by incorporating aggressive political statements”, adding “their actions included projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech”. She then stated that “this band openly supported terrorist organisations”, seemingly referencing previous comments made by Kneecap’s members in relation to Hamas and Hezbollah rather than anything said during the Coachella performance.

It’s not just Osbourne who has been critical of the political content of Kneecap’s set, although others have commended the group for using their platform in this way and endorsed the pro-Palestinian message.

Among those to publish critical statements were organisers of the Nova Music Festival, where hundreds of festival-goers were killed during the Hamas attack in Israel on 7 Oct 2023. They said that the group’s political statements during their Coachella set “deeply hurt many in our community”, but that they believed that their response “must be rooted in empathy, not hate”.

They then invited members of the group to visit the Nova Exhibition, which documents what happened at the festival in 2023, and to “experience first-hand the stories of those who were murdered, those who survived and those who are still being held hostage. Not to shame or silence - but to connect. To witness. To understand”.

Osbourne’s criticism was more forthright. Regarding the festival’s promoter, AEG owned Goldenvoice, Osbourne wrote that, while it may have been “unaware of Kneecap’s political intentions when they were booked”, after the political content during the first weekend's performance, “allowing them to perform again the following weekend suggests support of their rhetoric and a lack of due diligence”.

Although that suggests Osbourne believes Goldenvoice should be concerned about artists airing any political opinions, not just specifically opinions regarding the conflict in Gaza.

She then said that Kneecap’s booking agency IAG “includes individuals of Jewish heritage”, and therefore “it is disheartening that they have not used their positions to prevent the promotion of such controversial messages. As someone with both Irish Catholic on my mothers side and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on my fathers side, and extensive experience in the music industry, I understand the complexities involved”.

Her post then concluded, “I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneeecap's work visa”.

Osbourne's comments will also cause controversy, of course. Beyond any debate for or against the statements Kneecap made, there is also the separate debate over freedom of expression, and whether the music industry should be restricting political commentary during any one artist’s set and refusing to book artists who won’t agree to such restrictions.

And then there is the separate conversation around countries refusing to grant visas to artists based on past political comments or activism.

Although the First Amendment of the American constitution in theory protects the free speech of performers within the US, there is increased concern that foreign artists may be refused visas to tour there based on past political comments. Whether that’s specific criticism of Trump and the US government, or in relation to other contentious political issues.

As this recent Pollstar article explains, there have been some incidents since Trump became President involving performers being refused visas that seem to justify those concerns. Although performer visa experts Tamizdat note that, in at least some cases, the current problems being experienced by performers seeking US visas aren’t actually new problems, they are just more newsworthy.

In guidance updated last month, Tamizdat says, “Some highly publicised detentions and deportations have been linked to the foreign national’s activism and activist presence on social media, but we are not routinely seeing clients denied visas or denied entry to the US at ports of entry based on their social media or other public comments”. But, it then concedes, “This could change”.

Pointing performers and their teams to the ACLU website for further guidance, Tamizdat adds, “It is important to understand that immigration officers at ports of entry may search publicly available information - including your social media and online profiles. In many circumstances they may also confiscate and search your electronic devices”.

When they do that, US officials are usually more interested in finding information about a performer’s planned activities while in the US, but, it adds, “if an officer discovers politically sensitive statements in your devices, it is reasonable to assume this will not improve your chances of being admitted to the US”.

https://completemusicupdate.com/sharon-osbourne-calls-for-kneecaps-us-visa-to-be-revoked-over-pro-palestine-statements-during-coachella-set/?ref=cmu-daily-newsletter