Irish Eurovision contestant Bambie Thug, who finished one place behind Israel’s Eden Golan, has launched a tearful, profanity-laden rant accusing the competition organisers of not supporting them over a row with an Israeli TV station.
Thug, who has been outspoken about their pro-Palestine views, accused Israeli broadcaster Kan of breaching the rules after the TV station branded their semi-final performance “Satanic”.
The 'ouji pop' star secured a sixth place finish in Ireland's first grand final of the music event since 2018, one place behind Israel’s Golan, whose entry sparked anger from pro-Palestine protesters amid the war in Gaza.
Thug, who identifies as non-binary, told journalists in the press centre: “So now that I’m free. I can talk about everything right?
“Yeah, so Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they'd follow up.
“They waited to the last minute, still haven’t gotten a statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.
Bambie Thug (Image: Sarah Louise Bennett / Eurovision)[Missing Credit]
“And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won’t be able to compete because of that.
“And behind the scenes you don’t know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and I’m so proud of Nemo for winning,
“I’m so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting for this s**t behind the scenes. Because it’s been so hard and I’m so proud of us.
“And I just want to say we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is. F**k the EBU. I don’t even care anymore.”
The EBU reportedly made Thug remove the words "Ceasefire" and "Saoirse Don Phalistin" - which translates from Irish Gaelic to "freedom for Palestine" - after they were written into their costume.
Golan defied the odds to win a place in the top 10 of acts in the competition’s grand final in Sweden.
Twenty-year-old Golan, from Kfar Saba in central Israel, faced boycott calls, protests, and threats in the run-up to the contest, as well as demands for Israel to be excluded from the final in Malmo.
Golan received 12 points, the maximum allowed, from the UK voting public, but nothing from the United Kingdom jury. The singer also gained 10 points from Ireland, and 12 points from Germany.
The Israeli entry received 323 votes in total from the voting public, the second most of any competitor.
Earlier this week, Golan faced boos from the audience as she performed her song Hurricane ahead of the singing competition’s semi-final on Thursday.
Videos emerged on social media of noisy disapproving audience members who filmed themselves booing the 20-year-old singer while she was on stage.
