VIDEOS OF THE Irish language hip-hop group Kneecap performing in Havana have been spread online along with suggestions that their performance at a concert was responsible for an energy blackout that, supposedly, left patients in hospital to die.

There is no evidence for these claims. Kneecap did perform at a gig in Havana, where they were supporting an international aid convoy to counter a US-led embargo on the island nation.

While an energy blackout did occur that night, there is no evidence it was caused by the Kneecap gig, nor were claims of hospital deaths corroborated.

There are no reasons to think that Kneecap had any part to play in any electricity blackout in Havana.

Cuba has suffered from a series of electrical blackouts since Donald Trump vowed last week to “take” the island months into an American-led de facto oil blockade.

The communist leadership of Cuba has vowed to resist the US attempt to topple the government.

A series of missions were organised under the banner of the group Nuestra América Convoy, aiming to deliver humanitarian aid during the crisis, including medicines and solar panels.

No strangers to controversy, Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap joined one of these convoys in solidarity with the Cuban people, arriving on the island on Friday and playing a gig there the following day — a gig which was later baselessly blamed for deaths.

“BREAKING,” a post on X by the account of Right Angle News Network begins.

“All patients on ventilators at a Cuban hospital died after the Irish band Kneecap used massive amounts of electricity during a ‘humanitarian performance’ for fellow communists”.

A screenshot of the post seen 6.8 million times.

A photo of a hospital with lights out accompanies the post, which has been viewed more than 6,800,000 times on X, as well as prompting posts sharing the same claim on other social media platforms, such as Facebook.

While it seems odd to attribute the moral responsibility of a blackout, and deaths it supposedly caused, to a short musical performance rather than months of intentional fuel blockades, there is an even more pressing issue with this insinuation — the facts contradict it.

The events

While there was a blackout in Cuba on Saturday night, 21 March, this appears to have occurred after Kneecap’s performance ended; there is no reason to believe that the gig had any effect on the blackout; and there are strong reasons to think that the gig did not use “massive amounts of electricity”.

There are also no corroborating claims about patient deaths in the hospital, which are only sourced to social media users, such as one cited in the Right Angle News Network post. That user, @GoodVibePolitik, describes themselves as being from “Occupied Lenape Territory”, referring to a native tribe that lived in a wide area centred on Manhattan, New York. That user says they heard the rumour from an unnamed source in Cuba

That user has mentioned Kneecap on their account, but only in relation to attending one of their gigs in 2025.

That user posted various times about deaths in the hospital, the facade of which is identifiable as Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras.

Healthcare and hospitals in Cuba have been badly affected by the blackouts, but there are no reports from state media or reliable organisations corroborating the claim of mass deaths at the Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras.

While the press is restricted in Cuba, the hospital does appear to be in contact with western organisations, including the humanitarian convoy, which appears to have delivered aid directly to the hospital.

Other social media users have made similar claims, again citing unnamed persons.

The claim that the blackout caused deaths is unconfirmed. However, it is plausible, and has not been disproven, unlike the other claims in the post.

The gig

In a message on X, Kneecap said “Even in Havana, with the power cutting out shortly after our gig, the message of solidarity to Palestine remains the same.”

This was published two hours before the first post about the hospital was put online, and a video showing the gig was posted an hour before that, indicating a significant time gap between the gig and any potential reports from the hospital.

Organisers told the New York Times that Kneecap had actually given an impromptu performance at an open-air festival in Havana that was already underway.

There is evidence that this is at least partly true — Cuban media had reported that there were numerous events on that day, including a concert at the Pabellón Cuba featuring “influencers, media professionals, legislators, activists, and prominent global figures”.

Videos of the Kneecap’s performance show both the distinctive brutalist roof and pillars of the Pabellón Cuba, as well as unique decorative patterns and windows at the venue that confirm the location. 

A screenshot from a video fo the concert

Part of a Google Maps image of the concert venue, showing the same distinct window and wall pattern layout.

However, some reports do mention that the convoy was expected to be in attendance, which may have factored into the planning of the concert.

In either case, even if the concert wasn’t just for Kneecap, wasn’t it irresponsible to consume so much power during an energy crisis? Was it the cause of the later blackout?

There are strong reasons to think that it wasn’t, including the fact that concerts consume less energy than one might think.

Certain uses of energy are far more intensive than others. For example, of the total energy consumed by Irish households, about 80% is used for intentionally generating heat, either through radiators, or the hotpress, or cooking.

Other uses of energy, such as lighting, are often negligible energy consumers.

We don’t have a complete reading of the energy used for the concert Kneecap performed at, but we can make some estimates.

For example, the stage lighting appears to be an LED array.

One of the lights directed at the stage during the Kneecap performance.

 One possible match for the lights shown at the concert uses 20 watts (which is typical of such lights).

This is a tiny amount of energy — another way to think about it is that it takes less energy to run an array of these than what is given off a tealight candle, or that it you could run one of these continuously for about a week on a Euro’s worth of electricity.

Another obvious power use is the sound amplifiers.

Again, it is not clear the exact model being used, but a possible match has a maximum output of 2100 watts — about the same as a standard plug-in domestic electric heater.

Guides for setting up sound systems advise that the “total amplifier power” needed for a performance like Kneecap gave would be about 1,000 to 3,000 watts.

While there were almost certainly more uses of power than just sound and lights, there is no evidence of heavy energy uses that would make it a likely candidate for causing an electrical grid failure. For example, it is unlikely they were using air conditioning at the covered outdoor venue.

It may even be the case that the hundreds of people who attended the gig would have used more energy from the electrical grid had they done something else.

So, if the concert didn’t cause the blackout, what did? According to officials, the blackout in Havana was caused by a failure at a power plant hundreds of kilometers away, on the other side of the island, which caused a chain reaction of failures.

In brief

So, to recap: After months of fuel blockades against Cuba, a failure at a power plant caused blackouts hundreds of kilometers away in Havana, where earlier that day the band Kneecap had played a gig.

There are rumours these blackouts caused deaths in hospitals, though this is unconfirmed.

A group called Right Angle News Network placed moral responsibility for the blackout and the supposed deaths on Kneecap, who were in Cuba to deliver supplies such as solar panels.

There is no evidence that their performance had any relation to the blackout, or even that it had “used massive amounts of electricity”, as the Right Angle News Network claimed.

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