Bambie Thug, bearer of Ireland atEurovision Song Contest 2024, asked the EBU to respond to comments made on Israeli television before his performance in Tuesday’s semifinal.
This is what we read on the website of the Irish TV RTÉ, which in some way also gives an explanation to the artist’s absence from today’s rehearsals and to the story that the Cork artist published on his social channels.
Claiming that the comment violated Eurovision rules, Bambie Thug he said Israel should no longer be allowed to participate in the competition. “I have a lot more anger and a lot more grit now,” Bambie Thug said in a television interview.
During Tuesday’s semifinal, a commentator on KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster, warned viewers with children that Bambie Thug’s performance would be “the scariest” of the night, adding that
There will be lots of spells and black magic and dark clothes and satanic symbols and voodoo dolls, like in Cats Square in Jerusalem in the mid-90s.
The commentator added that there had been “some controversy” over the song in Ireland, referring to a petition asking RTÉ to disqualify Doomsday Blue from the Irish selection, before further compounding the matter by saying that the artist likes to “talk negatively about Israel”, concluding with “But we can talk about this later. Prepare your curses.”
In the interview given to RTÉ Bambie Thug stated that the comment, which aired on the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, reached the Irish delegation and this is a reason for greater determination in tonight’s performance in the final. The artist added:
I feel anger at the other delegations who violate the EBU rules and are still admitted. So there’s definitely a war drum beating in my heart to push the performance even further than I have before
RTÉ declined to comment if you had complained to the EBU about the comment on KAN, but a spokesperson specified that RTÉ had not called for Israel to be eliminated from the competition.
The EBU therefore issued a short statement:
We spoke to KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, about this issue and reiterated the importance of all commentators respecting all artists participating in the competition and adhering to the rules and regulations of the event.
The controversy with Israel therefore continues in the competition of the other artists in the competition, for a Eurovision 2024 that will in any case be remembered for a long time.
