Bambie Thug, the non-binary singer who will represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, has shown solidarity with Palestine and shared a haunting interpretation of The Cranberries’ classic song, Zombie. The song attracted relevance to the context of the Northern Ireland conflict, and Bambie performed it with a message to those suffering in Palestine. Following pressure from campaigners, Bambie had to remove their visible messages on ceasefire and freedom in Ogham script to comply with contest rules that call for a non-political nature during the event.
Bambie is still a strong contender to win the show, despite the calls to boycott it from different countries, including over 1,000 Swedish artists (Robyn, Fever Ray and First Aid Kit), 1,400 Finnish music industry professionals and campaigners. Israel’s participation in the contest is controversial, and measures have been taken to discourage overt political messages by removing Palestinian flags and political symbols during the final. Sworn to political neutrality, performers are barred from making any political statements on stage, and fans in the audience cannot display flags of countries that are not competing.
Bambie Thug, who is for Palestine, says that as an artist, they should not be a target of attacks representing their country and suggests that campaigners should direct their demands to the event organisers and broadcasters. Although the conflicted situation in the region created a reason to pressure Bambie, they still believe that pro-Palestine should not equate to anti-semitism, and emphasise their anti-war, anti-occupation, anti-oppression and anti-killing stance for innocent people.
Bambie’s event organisers eventually agreed to let ceasefire remain in their outfit, initially asked to be removed before the call time, while free Palestine was removed from their outfit. In coping with the load of controversy and internet backlash, Bambie temporarily stepped away from social media. However, they remain undeterred and aspire to give their best performance and connect to millions of viewers who will be watching the contest
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