Winston Peters Called Kneecap ‘Low IQ Weasels’. They Invited Him to Their NZ Shows Instead

Irish rap group Kneecap are due in Auckland and Wellington in February 2027, and they’ve just picked up New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister as an unlikely part of the conversation around it.

The exchange started when Winston Peters weighed in on an unrelated political spat: NZ First’s pushback against Green MP Tamatha Paul, who had called English a “bastard language.” In a post on X, Peters extended the swipe to Kneecap, calling them “low IQ weasels,” claiming the band “support Hamas,” and questioning why they’d been granted a visa exemption to perform in NZ at all, pointing to bans the group has faced in Hungary and Canada.

Kneecap’s reply wasn’t a rebuttal. It was an invitation. The band publicly invited Peters to come along to “the party” at their upcoming shows, scheduled for Auckland on 9 February 2027 and Wellington on 10 February 2027.

Peters didn’t take them up on it. He was pushed on it during a Breakfast TV appearance and didn’t soften his stance, calling the band “junk.”

There’s a wrinkle that makes the whole thing land a bit differently: according to Stuff, NZ First’s own social media had featured a Kneecap track in a video of theirs not long before Peters’ post, which makes the “low IQ weasels” line read less like consistent policy and more like an off-the-cuff shot that boomeranged.

Kneecap have built their reputation, and no small amount of their controversy, on exactly this kind of moment. The Belfast trio rap in Irish and English, are outspoken on Irish republicanism and Palestinian solidarity, and have drawn bans, protests and visa fights in multiple countries as a result. That’s a pattern their fans read as proof the band is doing its job, and their critics read as proof of the opposite. A New Zealand cabinet minister publicly sparring with them ahead of a tour only adds to that reputation, whichever side of it you land on.

For NZ gig-goers, the practical takeaway is simple: tickets for both dates are already on sale, and this is shaping up to be one of the more talked-about tours to land here in early 2027, controversy attached or not.

Whether Peters actually shows up is, we’ll admit, not something we’d bet on. But we’d watch the door.