Analysis: from allegations of bribery and drug use to political demonstrations, the Eurovision has never been just about the songs
The Eurovision Song Contest is full of theatrical costumes, peculiar lyrics and outlandish performances. In its 68-year history, it has also been a platform for controversies ranging from alleged bribing for votes to political demonstrations on stage.
You could vote for your own country once upon a time
At the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, all seven participating countries sent two jury members each to the host city, Lugano, Switzerland in order to vote in secret on the songs. The juries were allowed to vote for whatever country they wished to, including their own. However, jury members from Luxembourg were unable to travel so Swiss nationals were permitted to vote on their behalf. And guess who won the contest? Why it was Switzerland of course! Self-praise is no praise.
Israel disowns its own entry
A controversial political gesture played out on the Eurovision stage in 2000 when Israel's entrants, PingPong, finished their song 'Be Happy’ by unfurling Syrian flags and called for peace, to the shock of many in their home country. Israel's broadcasting authority disowned the entry, but the truth eventually emerged that two of the group were journalists who wrote about cultural affairs for the newspaper Ma'ariv. They confessed that they entered the Eurovision contest as a joke, although they ended up beating 83 other entries along the way.
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Israel's PingPoing perform 'Be Happy' at Eurovision 2000
Allegations of drug use
When Italian rock band Måneskin won the contest in 2021, their success was clouded by speculation around drug use during the live broadcast. Lead singer Damiano David was captured by TV cameras hunched over a table offstage in a green room in a sniffing motion during the show’s finale, fuelling rumours of cocaine use, Another band member appeared to nudge him and he quickly sat back up. When asked to explain his peculiar behaviour in an awkward news conference exchange with a Swedish journalist, David denied any wrongdoing and insisted ‘he had been looking down because guitarist Thomas Raggi had broken a glass’.
LGBTQ+ challenges
When transgender singer Dana International won the competition for Israel in 1998 with the song ‘Diva’, she cemented Eurovision as a celebratory space for LGBTQ+ people. But her inclusion in the contest led to Orthodox Jews protesting in the streets of Israel and she received death threats. The differing attitudes of host countries to gay rights is a persistent issue in the competition, with its large gay fan base often having to travel to countries with repressive attitudes to sexuality.
One of the most iconic winners in recent years has been bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst who won for Austria in 2014. The performer, whose real name is Tom Neuwirth, won the contest by 52 points, despite initial expectations that the act would be too controversial in socially conservative countries.
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Austria's Conchita Wurst performs Rise Like A Phoenix at Eurovision 2014
The kids at Eurovision
In 1970, 18-year-old Rosemary Browne aka Dana, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland for the first time singing 'All Kinds of Everything'. But the fresh-faced Derry girl is not the youngest winner. In 1986, the winner of the song contest was the 13-year-old Sandra Kim representing Belgium, who sang J'Aime La Vie. She had told the producers of the show that she was 15-years-old. Yes, she did a Nadine Coyle.
Kim's success inspired the selection of young entrants in several countries. In 1989, 11-year old Nathalie Pâque represented France and 12-year old Gili Natanael appeared for Israel. This caused controversy owing to the pressure the competition placed on children to perform on such a massive stage. A rule change the following year stipulated that contestants must be 16-years-old on the day of the contest.
A boycott for everyone in the audience
While many have called for Ireland to forget about the Eurovision because of poor performances, block voting and the cost of hosting the contest in the (now unlikely) scenario of securing a win, there have also been calls to boycott Eurovision for political and humanitarian reasons.
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Stephane & 3G's "banned" 2009 Eurovision song "We Don't Wanna Put In"
In 2019, organisers, performers and viewers were encouraged to boycott the contest as it was held in Tel-Aviv in order to highlight the daily violence, stress and human cost of Israel’s occupation on Palestinians. The 2009 contest saw Georgia withdraw its entry after its song ‘We Don't Wanna Put In’ was rejected by organisers for containing obvious references to the Russian lad.
Cliff Richard was robbed
When Cliff Richard represented the United Kingdom singing ‘Congratulations’ in 1968, he was the bookmakers’ favourite to win. However Spanish contestant Massiel pipped him to the title by just one point with ‘La La La’. It has since been claimed in a 2008 Spanish documentary that the country's dictator Francisco Franco rigged the vote as victory was seen as vital to his fascist regime in boosting Spain’s image abroad.
Asked if the matter would be formally investigated, Eurovision director Bjorn Erichsen's response was: "No! Just to make Cliff Richard a little happier and the Spanish winner a bit more unhappy? I don’t think you should dig up old bodies to prove he was or wasn’t the father. It’s history". There’ll be no retrospective congratulations or jubilations for Cliff then.
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Cliff Richard performing Congratulations at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest
Jordan announced the runners-up as the winners
Jordan broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1978, one of several low points in their relations with Israel Jordan refused to broadcast the Israeli entry, switched the signal off while they were performing and instead showed pictures of flowers. Later, when voting showed that Israel was winning, they cut the transmission and announced to their local audience that Belgium (who had ended up in second place) had been the winner.
Almost every Eurovision Song Contest brings about controversy in various forms – some political, some humanitarian, some downright ridiculous. And I didn’t even mention Dustin the Turkey.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
