IRISH language rappers Kneecap have taken a satirical swipe at critics over comments about the band receiving public money to partly fund their debut movie which has received rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in the US.
A former Secretary of State for the North and DUP politicians have criticised the financing of the film featuring the West Belfast rap trio, who saw their film premiere with a 100 per cent scoring on renowned movie review site Rotten Tomatoes.
The success of the film has also been recognised with it being the first film from this year's Sundance Film Festival to be scooped up by a major studio for release. The film has been picked up Sony Pictures Classics, which has acquired all rights to the title for North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East.
The premiere of the movie in Utah saw the group arrive in a decked out PSNI Land Rover with 'Kneecap' spray-painted on the side, much to the delight of spectators.
We rolled into Park City, the land of rich people in the sneachta, and shut down @Sundanceorg!
Big bualadh bos to @TenthManHello for helping us steal the jeep. pic.twitter.com/Fsqizwiagy
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) January 19, 2024
Former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers hit out at the movie receiving £760,000 in public money from the Northern Ireland Screen and a further £910,000 from the National Lottery.
"They are entitled to express their views, but public money should not be squandered on those who appear to be taking such a hardline approach and promoting division," she said.
DUP North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said he was “appalled” that the film was funded by taxpayers.
We arrived in Utah on Thursday and in the 5 days since…
🔥 Premiered at Sundance
🔥 Sold out movie to Sony
🔥 Drove an armoured Peeler jeep about
🔥 Got 100% on rotten 🍅But the best past of the last 5 days…
Pissing off the Daily Mail 😘 pic.twitter.com/B3ASBd8KwX
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) January 22, 2024
Responding to their critics, Kneecap stated they will personally fund a screening of their film in an Orange Hall of the DUP's choosing.
The group said: "You can inform the DUP that we will put on a private screening for them in Belfast, in an Orange lodge of their choice. We will send popcorn and fizzy drinks too, all on us. Grá mor [big love].”
In a recent interview with the Andersonstown News before heading to Sundance, Kneecap said Unionist politicians and media repeatedly demonise the Irish language to create further division in society.
Móglaí Bap of the group said: “They’re outraged because they want to put out this perception that the language is evil or part of this 'Republican agenda' that will ensnare all the Protestants and turn them into Roman Catholics, they make it out like the IRA invented Irish!
“The Irish language doesn’t belong to any one culture here and that’s what we want to drive home. We all know the DUP don’t align with what working class Protestants want or believe in and you see that all the time with the likes of LGBTQ+ rights and everything else. They’re not representing the people in working class loyalist areas and they want to use the Irish language – to make it into this massive political game."
