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The municipal authority for Saint-Cloud, a suburb in Paris, has withdrawn a €40,000 subsidy from the annual Rock-en-Seine music festival.
The decision, announced on Thursday, follows the festival’s booking of the Irish rap group Kneecap, who have faced criticism for displaying pro-Palestine messages during their gigs.
The Belfast-based trio, known for rapping in both Irish and English, are still scheduled to perform on the final day of the Rock-en-Seine festival, which runs from August 21 to August 24.
In a statement late on Wednesday, the Saint-Cloud city hall said the money had been agreed before the final line-up of the festival was announced and that it had decided to withdraw the funding on July 3.
The Saint-Cloud city said it respects the festival’s programming freedom, and had not sought “to enter into any negotiations with a view to influencing the programming”.
“On the other hand it does not finance political action, nor demands, and even less calls to violence, such as calls to kill lawmakers, whatever their nationality,” the statement said.
Rock-en-Seine could not be immediately reached for comment.
Earlier this month the band announced new tour dates to play their “biggest run of shows ever” across Scotland, Wales and England.
Announcing the news on Tuesday, the group shared a post on Instagram with the caption that read: “Here we go.
“We’re back in November across Scotland, England and Wales to play our biggest run of shows ever.
“All of ye can get a pre-sale link for tomorrow at 10am ahead of the masses by signing up to our mailer or WhatsApp channel.
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“The Prime Minster himself cant stop us…he could stop sending bombs to Israel but that’s another story…”
The group recently performed at Glasgow’s O2 Academy, in a gig which sold out in 80 seconds.
They were due to perform at TRNSMT festival in Glasgow, but their set was axed after concerns raised by police.
Kneecap member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh who is known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a flag of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Britain.
He denies the offence and the band says its members do not support Hamas or Hezbollah.
