Political controversies in the Eurovision Song Contest

The continuing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has affected the contest on numerous occasions since both countries began competing in the late 2000s. In 2009, a number of people in Azerbaijan who voted for the Armenian entry were reportedly questioned by Azeri police.[1] Armenia's entry to the 2015 contest received a name change following claims that it contained a call for recognition of the Armenian genocide, in contradiction to the contest's rules regarding political messaging in competing songs.[2][3][4] Controversy erupted again in 2016 when Armenia's Iveta Mukuchyan was shown waving the flag of the Republic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway state internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but largely inhabited by ethnic Armenians, at the contest's first semi-final.[5] This again contravened Eurovision rules on political gestures and resulted in disciplinary action being levied against Armenian broadcaster ARMTV.[6]

Interactions between Russia and Ukraine in the contest had originally been positive in the first years of co-competition, however as political relations soured between the two countries following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in Donbas, so too have relations at Eurovision become more complex. In 2016, Ukraine's Jamala won the contest with the song "1944", whose lyrics referenced the deportation of the Crimean Tatars. Given the events in Crimea, many saw this song as a political statement against Russia's actions, however the song was permitted to compete given the perceived historical nature of the song despite protests from the Russian delegation.[7][8] Calls for a Russian boycott of the 2017 contest in Ukraine were dismissed, however their selected representative for the contest in Kyiv, Yuliya Samoylova, was subsequently banned from entering Ukraine due to having performed in Crimea in 2015 and entering the region illegally according to Ukrainian law, by entering the region directly from Russia rather than going through Ukraine.[9] Offers for Samoylova to compete remotely from a venue in Russia or for a change of artist were rejected by Russia's Channel One, with Russia eventually pulling out of the contest and the EBU reprimanding Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC and threatening to exclude Ukraine from future contests.[10][11]

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, UA:PBC appealed to suspend Russian EBU member broadcasters VGTRK and Channel One from the union, and to exclude Russia from competing in that year's contest. The appeal alleged that since the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, VGTRK and Channel One have been a mouthpiece for the Russian government and a key tool of political propaganda financed from the Russian state budget.[12] The EBU initially stated that Russia as well as Ukraine would still be allowed to participate in the contest, citing the non-political nature of the event.[13][14] Following complaints levied by other participating countries, on 25 February, the EBU announced that Russia would not be allowed to take part in the contest, as it would “bring the competition into disrepute.”[15][16] Ukraine went on to win the contest with the highest number of points from the televote in the contest's history.[17]

Following its 2022 win, Ukraine was initially given the opportunity to host the 2023 contest, however, the EBU later decided that the country would not be able to host due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion,[18] with the United Kingdom, which had finished in second place in 2022, being chosen to host on Ukraine's behalf.[19] Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested to address the audience during the final of that year's contest, but the EBU subsequently rejected his request on the basis of its wish to "not politicize the event".[20] Ternopil, the hometown of that year's Ukrainian representatives Tvorchi, was targeted by Russian missile strikes ahead of Tvorchi's performance; the duo later held up a makeshift sign with 'Ternopil' written on it during the recap of the competing performances.[21]

Georgia's planned entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow caused controversy: in the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian War, Stephane and 3G were selected to compete with the song "We Don't Wanna Put In", however the EBU objected to the lyrics as they appeared to criticise Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Requests by the EBU for the lyrics of the song to be changed were refused by the group, and Georgian broadcaster GPB subsequently withdrew from the event.[22][23] A number of boycotts of the contest were considered by the Baltic states over Russia's actions in Georgia, however none eventually occurred, with Estonian broadcaster ERR hosting a poll on its website to gauge public opinion on competing in Russia.[23][24]

A mural in Girona promoting a boycott of the 2019 contest in Israel

Israel first competed in the contest in 1973, becoming the first country from outside of Europe to enter. Its participation in the contest over the years has been at times controversial, but it has remained a regular competitor in the contest and been crowned the winner on four occasions. The country's first appearance was marked by an increased security presence at the contest venue in Luxembourg City than what would have been considered normal in the early 1970s, coming less than a year after the Munich massacre where 11 members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team were killed by Palestinian terrorists. Armed guards were stationed at the venue, and the audience in attendance were warned not to stand during the show at the risk of being shot.[25][26][27]

The contest was regularly broadcast in the Arab world during the 1970s, however as many of these countries did not recognise Israel, their broadcasters typically cut to advertisements when Israel performed.[28] When in 1978 it became apparent that Israel was on course to win the contest, the broadcast in many of these countries was cut short before the end of the voting, with Jordanian broadcaster JRTV explaining the end of their transmission as due to "technical difficulties" and concluding its transmission with an image of a bunch of daffodils; Jordanian media later announced that Belgium, the eventual runner-up, had won instead.[29][30][31]

Israel's participation in the contest means that many Arab states that are eligible to participate in the contest choose not to do so, however a number of attempts have been made by some of the countries to enter. Tunisia had applied to take part in the 1977 contest, and had been drawn to perform fourth on stage, but later withdrew.[32][33] Morocco competed for the first, and to date the only time, in 1980, when Israel had withdrawn from the contest due to it being held on the same night as Yom HaZikaron.[lower-alpha 1][36][37][38] Most recently, Lebanon had signed up to compete in the 2005 contest, and had selected "Quand tout s'enfuit" as its debut entry, to be performed by Aline Lahoud. After being told by the EBU that they would have to broadcast the entire programme in full, including the Israeli entry, Télé Liban responded that they could not guarantee this as it would be incompatible with Lebanese law. The broadcaster therefore withdrew their entry, resulting in sanctions from the EBU due to the late withdrawal.[39]

Israel has hosted the contest on three occasions, with the first two (1979 and 1999) being held in Jerusalem. Due to the preparations and rehearsals which accompany the contest, and the Saturday evening timeslot for the final, objections from Orthodox religious leaders in the country regarding the potential interruption to Shabbat have been raised on all three occasions. In 1979, these objections were largely ignored and preparations for the contest were held mostly unchanged from standard, however, Turkey was pressured into withdrawing from the contest by Arab states who objected to a predominantly Muslim country taking part in Israel.[40][28] Objections were again raised in 1999 with regards to the contest being held around Shabbat, as well as criticism levelled against Dana International, the contest's first trans winner, leading to an attempt to stop the contest being held in Israel at all. However, all of these criticisms were in vain and the contest went ahead as planned.[41][42]

Sources:

• Official website
• EBU website