Bambie Thug, the Irish entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest, has made an official complaint to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) following remarks made by Israeli broadcaster KAN about their performance. The commentator on KAN warned viewers with children that Bambie Thug’s performance would be “the most scary” of the night, and referred to a “lot of spells and black magic and dark clothing, Satanic symbols and voodoo dolls” in the act. The KAN representative also referenced a petition to disqualify the artist’s song and claimed Bambie Thug liked to “speak negatively about Israel”, before telling viewers to “prepare your curses”.
Responding to the remarks, Bambie Thug said that they believed the commentary was “in breach of the rules” of Eurovision and called for Israel to no longer be allowed to participate. “There’s a lot more anger and a lot more drive in me now,” they told RTE. “I’m angry with other teams breaching their rules of the EBU and still being allowed in. So there’s definitely a war drum sounding in my heart to push the performance even more than I have done before.”
The EBU has spoken to KAN about the matter and emphasised the importance of all commentators respecting the artists taking part in the competition and abiding by the rules and regulations. However, no comment was made as to whether RTE had made an official complaint to the EBU about the commentary on KAN.
Bambie Thug notably missed the final dress rehearsal, posting on their Instagram stories that there was “a situation” that needed “urgent attention from the EBU”. However, they did perform in the live semi-final held on Tuesday night. Eurovision has proven to be a controversial competition this year, with Bambie Thug previously criticising the decision to hold the contest in Israel and calling on organisers to “show some humanity” over political issues affecting the participating countries
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