Irish

PIERCE BROSNAN has hit back after being widely mocked for struggling to master an Irish accent – despite being born in Ireland.

He got ridiculed for his lilt while playing mobster Conrad Hannigan in Paramount+ show, MobLand.

3

It contributed to uncertainty over whether the Guy Ritchie-directed thriller, which also stars Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy, would get a second series.

But Pierce told the Radio Times: “My own accent is very soft. Conrad’s accent is a million miles away from me.”

A dialect coach recommended he speak with someone whose voice he could use as inspiration.

Pierce explained: “I told him I needed a Kerry accent, so he gave me the name of a man and I Googled the guy and that was it.

“It was a Kerry accent. And so, I just gave it full tilt.”

Sadly, reviews were mixed.

3

MARTIN KEMP might regret his comments about his sex life on Loose Women yesterday.

During a debate on scheduling intimacy, he said: “I don’t think you can.

“If I had to look in my diary and it says Thursday night, I’m go­ing to do it – I don’t think it works.

“I even feel under pressure if it’s a Sunday morning.”

JOHNNY: C4 LACKS IDENTITY

JOHNNY VAUGHAN has slammed Channel 4 for failing to back the 2022 reboot of The Big Breakfast.

The presenter, who fronted the show from 1997 to 2001, said the channel had lost its identity without a flagship early-morning programme.

3

He also criticised TV execs’ obsession with cooking shows, saying they’re full of “boring, middle-aged, white chefs”.

The 2022 reboot of just four episodes, was hosted by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.

Johnny told Mo’s podcast he watched the reboot and that the show “just needs time”.

He added: “It’s meant to be an alternative to dreary daily breakfast shows.

“Without it, I think it’s like school without an assembly. You’ve got to say who you are every day. This is what’s on.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.

British police say Mo Chara displayed a flag of Lebanon’s Hezbollah at a concert.

A member of the Irish rap band Kneecap has been charged with a “terrorism” offence in the United Kingdom for waving a flag of the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah at a concert in November 2024 in London.

Liam O’Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on June 18, charged under the Terrorism Act, British police said on Wednesday.

Kneecap has been vocal in its support for the Palestinian cause since the October 7, 2023-led Hamas attacks and Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, equating the struggles of the Irish under British colonial rule to that of Palestinians under that of Israel.

Pro-Palestinian chants are a regular fixture in their gigs. The band says they have been targets of a smear campaign for calling out Israel’s genocidal war.

KNEECAP STATEMENT:

Since our statements at Coachella — exposing the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people — we have faced a coordinated smear campaign.

For over a year, we have used our shows to call out the British and Irish governments’ complicity in war crimes.… pic.twitter.com/mBojb5QBOP

— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 25, 2025

The Belfast trio is also well known for its political and satirical lyrics and use of symbolism associated with the Irish Republican movement, which seeks to unite Northern Ireland, currently part of the UK, with the Republic of Ireland.

More than 3,600 people were killed during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles” involving the Irish Republican Army (IRA), pro-British Loyalist militias and the UK security forces.

Kneecap takes its name from a brutal punishment, which involved being shot in the kneecaps, that was meted out by paramilitary groups to informers and drug dealers.

The band has been praised for invigorating the Irish-language cultural scene in Northern Ireland, where the status of the language remains a contested political issue in a society still split between Protestant British Unionists and Catholic Irish Nationalist communities.

It has also been criticised for lyrics laden with expletives and drug references.

Kneecap came under intense scrutiny and criticism last month during their performance at the music festival Coachella in California when they projected the words “F*** Israel. Free Palestine.” on stage.

“The Irish not so long ago were persecuted by the Brits, but we were never bombed from the f****** skies with nowhere to go! The Palestinians have nowhere to go – it’s their f****** home and they’re bombing them from the sky. If you’re not calling it a genocide what the f*** are you calling it?” read the words projected by Mo Chara.

Kneecap came under renewed scrutiny at the start of this month when UK intelligence said they would investigate comments made by the rap group about UK and Middle East politics.

They were reported to police over footage from a 2024 concert in which a band member appeared to say: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Footage from another concert, in 2023, appears to show a member of the trio shouting “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah” – the UK considers both to be “terrorist” organisations.

In response, Kneecap said it had “never supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” and accused “establishment figures” of taking comments out of context to “manufacture moral hysteria” because of the band’s criticism of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

Several Kneecap gigs have been cancelled as a result of the controversy, and some British lawmakers have called on organisers of June’s Glastonbury Festival to scrap a planned performance by the group.