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\n\tNorthern Ireland rap trio Kneecap<\/a> dropped a surprise drum & bass single, \u201cNo Comment,\u201d on Tuesday (Nov. 18), a track the Belfast group said in an Instagram post<\/a> is \u201call about the police witch-hunt against Mo Chara.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThe latter reference is to the terrorism charge against MC Chara (born Liam\u00a0\u00d3g \u00d3\u00a0hAnnaidh), with the song taking on the legal action launched by British authorities against Chara that was thrown out of court in September on a technicality. <\/p>\n \n\tThe provocative group added the messages, \u201cFree Palestine. Free the 6 counties. F\u2013k the peelers,\u201d references, respectively, to the group\u2019s support of the Palestinian people and advocacy for a Palestinian homeland, the slogan used by Irish nationalists in reference to six counties in Northern Ireland as part of a push to end British rule in the territory and a slang phrase denigrating the police.<\/p>\n \n\tThe two-minute-long collaboration with DJ\/producer Sub Focus was accompanied by cover art by enigmatic British street artist Banksy in the form of one of his signature murals in which a protestor is seen in shadow lying on the ground trying to protect himself from a judge threatening to hit him with a gavel.<\/p>\n \n\tThe song\u2019s mostly Irish-language lyrics hit on Chara\u2019s legal entanglements with bars including, \u201cIt\u2019s certain that we\u2019re in the way\/ In the West Bank and in Gaza\/ We\u2019ve made an example of you now, so silence Mo Chara\/ That won\u2019t ever happen,\u201d as well as, \u201cI\u2019m misbehaving in badness\/ Mo Chara\u2019s wanted\/ The air bubble bandit.\u201d The song later takes on the paranoia that comes with sudden, controversial fame. \u201cHave you ever been plastered on the news when you\u2019ve got the heebie-jeebies?,\u201d it continues, \u201cFar from ideal\/ Got death threats on my screen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn a statement to Pitchfork<\/a><\/em>, the group said: \u201c\u2018No Comment\u2019 is all about getting harassed by the British state. Simple as. Us Irish are well used to it, been happening for centuries. Was a pleasure to work with Sub Focus on this, the man is a legend.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tChara was charged in May with a terror offense for reportedly displaying the flag of the Lebanese Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah during a Nov. 2024 concert in London\u2019s Kentish Town Forum, a group designated with terrorist status by the U.K. government. The charge was tossed out<\/a> by a British judge in September, due to a technical error in the timing of when the charges were brought by London\u2019s Metropolitan Police; Chara had steadfastly denied any wrongdoing in the case, though video footage from the show appeared to show him displaying a flag associated with Hezbollah.<\/p>\n \n\tThe band continued to court controversy over the past year, including during their Coachella sets<\/a> in April, which ended with a message that read: \u201cIsrael is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F\u2013k Israel; free Palestine.\u201d The statement led to a number of prominent music industry figures, including Ozzy Osbourne manager Sharon Osborne, calling for them to be removed from the bill and for their work visas to be revoked<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe group has since been banned from several countries, including Hungary<\/a> and Canada<\/a>, over claims, respectively, that they pose a \u201cnational security threat\u201d and that they made statements \u201cthat are contrary to Canadian values and laws.\u201d They were also forced to cancel a run of shows in the U.S. and U.K. in the midst of the court case.<\/p>\n Listen to \u201cNo Comment\u201d below.<\/p>\n