Eurovision forced Irish representative to delete pro-Palestine messages that he had made up

Bambie Thug, representative of the Republic of Ireland at the Eurovision Festival, was unable to display a pro-Palestinian message during his performance in the first semi-final of the contest, which took place this Tuesday.

Through makeup and in the ogham alphabet, used in archaic Irish, Bambie Thug had written the messages “ceasefire” and “liberate Palestine” on his face. They were visible in the general rehearsals, but were removed for the semi-final performance.

At a press conference, Bambie Thug stated that the organization forced a change to these messages. The voice of ‘Doomsday Blue’ therefore chose to present the phrase “crown the witch”.

“It was very important to me [apresentá-las] because only in favor of justice and peace. Unfortunately, I had to change them,” she said.

The European Broadcasting Union, responsible for the event, reacted by saying that this change was based on “protecting the apolitical nature of the event”.

Israel’s presence in the contest has generated strong controversy due to the war in Gaza, which led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians, a third of which were children.