The SNP administration of Glasgow City Council would not support a ban on the Irish rap group Kneecap performing in the city, council leader Susan Aitken said.
First Minister John Swinney previously backed calls for the band to be removed from the bill at Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival after they allegedly called for the death of MPs during a concert.
Kneecap has since apologised to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox.
One member of the controversial rap outfit was also recorded shouting ‘Up Hamas, up Hezbollah’ at a gig, referring to Palestinian and Lebanese Islamist organisations which are on the British Government's list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
Speaking during a debate over Israel’s blockade of Gaza, Cllr Aitken said the ‘anger in many quarters was a sincere response’ to the band’s comments. ‘The UK is a state where MPs have been murdered in recent years. Words can and do matter.’
She added: ‘That – certainly not on the part of the SNP group – doesn’t translate into support for a ban on them playing in Glasgow or indeed anywhere else.’
