• Kneecap performed at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, chanting 'Free Palestine'.
• The concert faced objections from Jewish organizations and French government officials.
• One band member is charged for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a past concert.
• Saint-Cloud withdrew funding for the festival in response to the group's involvement.
• Concerns about antisemitism have heightened following recent events in Gaza.

The Irish rap group Kneecap performed at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 24, despite facing severe backlash from Jewish organizations and French officials. The performance began just before 6:30 PM local time, attended by thousands, where the group shouted "Free, free Palestine!" to rousing applause, while emphasizing they were not against Israel. This event follows one member's recent legal troubles in the UK, where he was charged for allegedly supporting Hezbollah during a concert last November, according to trtglobal and lemonde and scmp.

Despite withdrawals of financial support from local authorities in Saint-Cloud due to the controversy surrounding the band's political statements, festival director Matthieu Ducos expressed confidence in the group's performance, asserting they would "perform in the correct manner." The municipal government pulled its $47,000 subsidy, and the wider Ile-de-France region also canceled funding for the festival's 2025 edition, yet the festival's overall viability remains unaffected, according to trtglobal, lemonde, and scmp.

The group's reputation for politically charged performances intensified following a public outcry after the Hamas attack on Israel in early October 2023. Concerns over rising antisemitism were echoed by Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, who remarked that Kneecap's actions detracted from the memory of French victims of violence by Hamas and Hezbollah. French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also emphasized the need for vigilance against any commentary from the band that could be antisemitic or incite hatred, according to lemonde and scmp.