Bambie Thug represent Ireland and were the penultimate team to reach Saturday’s grand final of the competition. However, not everything went smoothly, and Bambie Thug, who is politically involved in the rights of LGBTQ and non-binary people, learned the hard way that some political issues are not allowed in the competition. It was about your own opinion on the pacification of Palestine, which Israel has been carrying out for half a year.
Eurovision 2024. They told Bamba Thug to cover her tattoos supporting Palestine
Bambie Thug does not hide their views and, as a non-binary person, openly supports various social groups and issues. Irish representatives declare that they are pacifists and oppose any aggression. Unfortunately, some of these views have no place on the Eurovision stage. Bambi Thug wanted to perform in Malmo with anti-war slogans on their bodies. “Hold your fire” and “Freedom for Palestine” leave very little room for guesswork as to what the issue is about, and Eurovision this year stands between not accepting politics on stage and allowing Israel bombing Gaza to enter the competition.
The organizers asked Bamba Thug to cover the signs. The request was explained as “breaking the rules of the competition, which were created to ensure that it remained apolitical.” The Irish delegation agreed to modify the appearance of Bambie Thug, but the bad taste remained, as the singers said at the press conference after the first semi-final:
This is very important to us because we are for justice and peace. Unfortunately, we had to change our demands and leave only “Crown the Witch” on the body, as the EBU ordered us to do. [Europejska Unia Nadawców, główny organizator Eurowizji – przyp. red.] – said Bambie Thug at the conference.
Eurovision 2024 / Bambie Thug / Ireland Photo REUTERS/Jessica Gow
Eurovision 2024. Palestine eliminated from the competition
Bambie Thug ultimately did not perform in the semi-finals with pro-Palestinian inscriptions on their bodies, but this does not mean that the topic of Palestine – in accordance with the organizers’ wishes – did not appear in the competition at all. Even before the participants’ performances began, Eurovision opened with songs by musicians from previous editions. . It is not known whether the organizers did not have time to react before Saade came on stage – perhaps they were not expected to change his outfit after the official rehearsals, during which he did not have a keffiyah on his wrist. However, there was a reaction to this after his performance – the recording with Saad was the only one that was not published on Eurovision’s social media.
The organizers are also preparing for not necessarily positive reactions from the audience in Malmo during the performance of Israel, who will present his song on Thursday evening. The country’s representative, Eden Golan, changed the content of the song, which was initially about the terrorist attack on Israel from October last year. “October Rain” became “Hurricane”, the content directly related to the massacre of civilians by Hamas turned into a veiled description of the current situation in Israel, as the creators of the song themselves said:
We have included everything we feel and what our country is going through in these three minutes. We want to speak to the world with this song, said Eden Golan in an interview with The Times of Israel.
Eurovision organizers have been widely criticized for allowing Israel to take part in this year’s contest. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that since October last year, Israel has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 1,139 people were murdered in the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
