Kneecap place ‘Stolen From Ireland’ stickers around British Museum in London

Controversial rap trio Kneecap have gained attention again after placing stickers around the British Museum that claim the artefacts there are “stolen from Ireland”.

The hip hop group from west Belfast posted their escapades to their social media pages on Friday evening, with an accompanying caption that reads: “Few bits we stuck around the British Museum today – place is huge and full of stolen treasures from other cultures and and people.

"Place would be empty only for the theft of everything they ‘discovered’...”

The actio caused widespread opinions, with one X user replying: “Tiresome childish nonsense.

"A lot of that stuff would have been lost forever through theft and neglect but proper archaeologists preserved it.”

Another person on Instagram commented: “The Annals of Innisfallen, one of the longest records of Irish history describing events of years 433-1450 and written down by various monks in Killarney for over 400 years is held in —-Oxford.”

The band’s latest act of defiance comes on the same day that they released their debut album ‘Fine Art’.

They have also just announced a major homecoming show at Belfast's SSE Arena for this December.

The concert will take place on Saturday, December 21, 2024.

Tickets go on sale next Friday (June 21) from ticketmaster.ie and ssearenabelfast.com.

The headline show will round off a landmark year for Mo Chara, Moglaí Bap and DJ Provaí – with their award-winning eponymous feature film also hitting the headlines.

KNEECAP the movie is set for release in Irish cinemas on August 8, and in UK cinemas on August 23.

It is a fictional retelling of the controversial band’s rise to fame, with X-Men star Fassbender playing the father of Naoise Ó Cairealláin (Móglaí Bap), an IRA veteran who fakes his own death and turns up as a yoga teacher.

The movie depicts the formation of the band as the three performers — Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Próvaí) and Liam Ó hAnnaidh (Mo Chara) — come together to create Kneecap and find themselves embroiled in a fight to have Irish recognised as the country’s native language.

All three bandmates play themselves, each landing an acting debut under the instruction of writer and director Rich Peppiatt.

In real life, the group was formed when Móglaí Bap was out spray-painting with a friend on the eve of an Irish Language Act march in Belfast.

He had written “Cearta” (the Irish word for rights) on a bus stop when the police arrived and lifted his friend, while Móglaí Bap managed to escape.

Their friend refused to speak English to the police and ended up spending a night in the cells awaiting a translator.

The incident inspired Kneecap’s song C.E.A.R.T.A, which they intended to release “just for the craic”. After becoming a cult hit through the underground music scene, however, they have since risen to Hollywood heights.

Tickets for Irish cinema viewings are now available through the websites of participating cinemas.

The film will have its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on July 9.

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