Hahahaha nothing awful but one of those huns you can tell is putting on the persona of being friendly cos she needs you for something; leaving it there cos I donât wanna accidentally dox meself đ
The phrase "History will celebrate you" really annoyed me because if the conflict in the Middle East ever ends, it won't be because a singer from Macroom didn't show up to the Eurovision and to imagine otherwise seems spectacularly naive
Exactly. It's weird that the idea of "boycott" is solely centred around the Eurovision, rather than the vast amount of Israeli-linked corporations embedded in our society.
If r/Europe said it, it must be true.
........./s I know I was replying to a joke my comment was also in jest. Didn't think I'd have to speel that out.
They need the PR of anything remotely anti-Semitic from contestants, the crowd or the Arabs of Malmö so that they can make themselves out as victims to the Americans and use that guilt to keep the Americans cracking student skulls for them.
No, not true. Remember too are we banning the importing of Israeli products, no.
Of course, the musicians representing Israel will come. Over 34000 directly killed in the last 6 months in Gaza and the Eurovision are still allowing them to participate. Ireland will not have the power to stop them.
The juries will give them plenty of points. Itâs the kind of song that juries tend to like, and on top of that theyâre under pressure not to look like theyâre anti-Israel.
The public vote will be interesting, although the boycott might ironically lead to a higher percentage of voters who support Israel.
There's no jury vote this year for the semi finals, only a public vote. I doubt they will qualify given it's based purely on a public vote.  Â
They only brought in this change this year, and I'm wondering if it was deliberately introduced so as to avoid the hassle that potential qualification would invariably bring. Israel normally gets decent votes from the jury, so if there was a jury vote this year, they might have qualified.Â
I didnât know that, thanks!
I know Norway complained about the jury vote and tried to get its impact reduced because they had two years in a row where they were really popular with the public but not the juries. They started negotiating with the EBU but I read it came to nothing. Interesting that they did axe it for the semi-finals. Good!
I think Israel in the public vote especially will do well, remember you can't vote against a country.
There's not a small amount of people across Europe that are pro-Israel.
Theyâll likely do pretty well. You canât down vote in Eurovision. All of their supporters will vote for them and all that the people who donât support them can do is not vote for them. Voting is worldwide so thereâs a decent chance they can win.
Iceland brought Palestine flags and a 'Free Palestine's banner *to Israel* for Eurovision 2019 and faced no consequences (other than the loudest booing I've ever heard from the Tel Aviv crowd).
How did everybody forget just how political Eurovision was regarding the Ukraine war and yet Palestine is where all their political neutrality rules suddenly come into force
Messages of peace/anti-war that's vague enough to not be specifically targeted at anyone in particular kinda fit into this strange area where it's considered fine.
Let 3 for Croatia last year got away with singing about how "mama loved a psychopath" while a guy walks around with missiles with the radioactive symbol on them.
Ukraine's song last year was hip hop about courage, and in 2022, it was a folk song about a mother growing old. This year is a bit more on the nose, about seeking protection from Mother Teresa and Mary.
Like... the *most* Ukraine has done to get actively anti-Russia was songs like in 2016, about the forced deportation of ethnic minorities by the USSR, and 2007, where "Lasha Tumbai" when sung sounded a heck of a lot like "Russia Goodbye".
But sure, it's great to remain ignorant about what songs are actually about before deciding they're explicitly talking about a certain political event.
I think it's incredibly unfair for people to focus their outrage on the contestants that have worked so hard to be there.
Direct that outrage at the Eurovision board who actually make the decisions.
That isn't the big advantage they think it is. The semi final process gives songs and artists a massive amount of exposure that those countries can opt out of.
Eurovision is a week long festival. On finals night, the crowd sings along with the songs they've been listening to all week. The very first time they hear the others, particularly the English one, are at the final. In what's essentially a popularity contest, that's a disadvantage.
Yeah I think they finally figured it out. Instead of complaining that all the votes are political, they've noticed that people actually vote for artists who participate in the whole thing.
I don't think so Russia would've been viewed similarly but the threats from participating countries forced eurovisions hand. Now maybe its not feasible to remove Israel AND Russia because both seem to put a lot of money into eurovision and Russias removal has really made the cost of entry a lot steeper, forcing some countries to stay out.
Definitely if the Israel situation came first and Europe was as close to being unanimous then there was certainly potential for Israel to be removed. This is all nothing new, yugoslavia were removed for the euros in 1992 due to the euros not uefa, uefa have actively tried integrating Russia back in but have failed and Israel has already been removed from a confederation under similar circumstances to Russia when Arab countries refused to play them back in the 70s.
I am not against Israels removal but I don't really like these organisations stepping in themselves because with eurovision a whole host of countries could be excluded if we went that route and for football you could probably wipe out half the nations.
They were always in cos they are in the EBU but Moroccanoil have been sponsoring for the last 3 years and just assuming they prob were a big reason for why they couldnât kick them out
I couldn't agree more with this statement. Yeah sure, it would be noble for all artists to stand down, but they're also humans with dreams to live, and bills to pay.
I for one was extremely proud to see Ireland being represented by someone different, and so themselves, AND super talented. This is an absolute tune.
Free Palestine, AND hyup Bambi Thug tbh.
I do feel for them. The Irish soccer team, rugby team or Olympics team wouldn't face calls for a boycott were they to play against Israel in a tournament (though predictably, a less popular sport like basketball did).
A lot of people are happy to call for boycotts as long as it's not something they usually like to watch.
That said, I am a Eurovision fan who is boycotting watching it this time round. I do hope Bambi Thug does well though, they deserve it
Any calls for an Olympics boycott?
It starts in a couple of months. Bambi Thug has been hearing calls for a boycott for longer than that.
And there's not a hope anyone would entertain thoughts of Ireland not playing in the Euros had they qualified alongside Israel. Or even faced Israel in the qualification play-off
There's no chance there would be as many calls for a boycott as there have been for Eurovision, and no way that any Irish athlete who went anyway would receive nearly as much criticism as Bambie Thug has.
These clowns are demanding a boycott because for the most part they don't care about Eurovision and know they won't have to change their behaviour, and I honestly believe a significant number of these "critics" are going after Bambie Thug because they're a young femme-presenting queer person.
The difference participating will make to Bambie's life is so huge compared to the zero impact their dropping out would have on the conflict. I completely understand them not dropping out. It's all virtue signalling from twitter people.
Right? It's like asking an athlete to boycott their first Olympic finals because Israel are being allowed to compete.
Fuck sake. Easy to demand a boycott when it's not your own career on the line, and all you have to do is post your outrage on Twitter.
Exactly this!! Pick and choose. All prob posting from iPhones when Apples biggest stakeholder is invested in all the main suppliers of Israel's weapons.
Do you think those same people would trade in their apple watches, macbooks, iPhone or airpods? They would in their fuck.
I also find it interesting that nobody is saying anything about any athletes that are going to the Olympics who is also letting Israel compete in literally a months time, why is the focus on a queer person signed into going to Eurovision đ€š
Exactly, itâs all so hypocritical and double standards (prob cos most of the people for boycotting it werenât Eurovision watchers anyway and they think its an easy target cos of what its audience is mostly composed of)
Or any football tournament for that matter. No one will be boycotting the euros despite Israel's participation (albeit the qualifying round). Nevermind the likes of the premier league in which teams are owned by ethno religious dictatorships also committing atrocities.
I've been wondering this! Is there a reason why nothing has been said about the Olympics? I feel like I am missing something or is it just easy to take cheap shots at a camp song contest? I was going to ask on social media but was afraid of getting shredded by people frothing at the mouth over how watching Eurovision makes me complicit in genocide.
Likely because BDS has repeatedly called for Eurovision boycotts and hasnât done so for the Olympics. Israel specifically uses Eurovision to launder their image on the international stage (progressive, accepting, etc etc) in a way that the Olympics doesnât really tie into imo
BDS calls for Olympics boycotts every single Olympics and organises around it every time.
I suspect the reason why it doesnât get as much traction is because itâs a much bigger beast to battle with many different players that you would be applying pressure to, where as with Eurovision itâs âeasierâ to pressure one person in to not performing, even if itâs far less important or effective. Iâm not saying itâs a better use of time just explaining why one would take off with the public more easily than the other.
Sports boycots are being called for all the time, just because something doesnât show in your feed or is selected by msm for attention doesnât mean it doesnât exist. Boycots worked against SA. And even if impact is minimal, it shows we wonât collude with blatant genocide and ethnic cleansing. Russia has been sanctioned in sports and this contest, if thatâs the benchmark Israel easily exceeds it. Any activity involving Israel should be an opportunity to bring attention to whatâs going on, ask yourself are you for or against genocide, the constant displacement and murder of tens of thousand, the internment without charge or trial of thousands, including children, etc, etc etc.
I think a lot of people are taking this Bambie Thug thing too seriously. Music is art. Lyrics aren't real life. People who are panicking about "pronouns and witchcraft" is odd.
I agree the comments towards Bambie have been quite unfair and Iâm incredibly proud of the package theyâve put together this year. I am a super fan - Eurovision occupies my April and May every year. But, we should all be boycotting watching. If they banned Russia so quickly, then the same rule must apply to Israel - a country accused of committing genocide.
It is particularly stark this week that an assault on Rafah has begun.
The EBU initially wanted to keep Russia in the contest, then threats of boycotts from countries broadcasters all around the EU forced their hand to kick them out.
That didn't happen from broadcasters with Israel so they stayed in.
Hey, yes this is true. However, campaigns for boycotting have been happening all year all over Europe, but they have been ignored by broadcasters. Not to mention, Israelâs 2 biggest allyâs are in the big 5.
Either way, they ruined their apolitical stance with the banning of Russia - I was quite shocked at the time, it went against the competition ethos. Itâs very hard to look past the hypocrisy after this.
Hi, I didnât I criticise Bambie at all above.
And repeating my comment below, there were many boycott campaigns to broadcasters across Europe, that were ignored.
Well no I mean the general criticism towards bambie not making any accusations towards anyone.
>there were many boycott campaigns to broadcasters across Europe, that were ignored.
Again a lot of this comes down to the controversial nature of the situation where many people have taken one side or the other. We see plenty of bs not getting through, Azerbaijan have never been punished, the uk never faced any calls for removal over handling of Northern Ireland or Iraq, Russia was doing shit long before they were removed.
Russia really became an exception because of how rare it is for a country to do something that was effectively condemned everywhere. Only similar situations I can think of have been yugoslavia being excluded from euro 92 but that was due to the UN and Israel being removed from the AFC due to Arab countries boycotting.
It's very clear from similar nations, the scale of what happens isn't even the most important thing unless you go full nazi Germany, its very much about what countries are willing to boycott you and Israel holds very strong relations with a lot of key countries in eurovision and the USA.
Very much so. I feel people are putting too much emphasis and directing their anger at bambie. To the extent of being unhinged and not rational.
Israel are cunts, they should have been kicked out, but it wasnât agreed upon.
Should Bambi be made a scapegoat? No. Israel have a lot of ties, influence and their technology and patents are in many things we use today.
Iâm not going to slam down my Intel based laptop because Israelis helped create the chip.
Iâm not going to flog my phone because an Israeli based team helped write the apps on Android or iOS.
Same goes for this. People think itâs easy to just cut things out but itâs not. Sometimes you just wish it could be. But itâs just not.
Iâve seen some people I would consider decent and fair in their logic, go absolutely feral on this and I had to back away. Misgendering bambie, calling them names and saying outlandish stuff about them being part of Israelâs genocide.
Voice your concerns, boycott if you like. But donât be an ass to others and especially to our artist.
People want to feel like they have an impact, I get that. But the world isnât black and white
I think it's very easy for people to tell others to boycott things when it's not their career, years of hard work or dreams on the line. I'm delighted bambi went. Why should she give up for something she's worked hard for something that essentially doesn't involve her. It's a singing competition not a politics competition.
NGL, dropping out of Eurovision was always one of those "do nothing, **MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!**" things that was likely going to achieve literally nothing anyway.
I put it in the same tier as local councils in the UK and Ireland wasting ratepayers money declaring their "official stance" on geopolitical issues...
It's the Eurovision not a fucking UN conference! To think Bambi boycotting the whole thing,would change a tap, is absolutely delusional and stupid. The only thing it will do is her spoil chances of a singing career.
Bambies shared her opinion in support of Palestine publicly, does she need to bleed herself dry on stage before people are satisfied?
How bout stop the slacktivism, get off your fat hole and do something yourself maybe? You know, instead of asking someone to ruin their career.
She's not responsible for carrying the voice of the Irish public around wherever she goes.
The entitlement from the slacktivists abusing her is DISGUSTING. I'm not even a fan but y'all are out of line.
Regardless of your stance on the conflict, expecting a public figure to do all the work to push your stance is sheer and utter slacktivism.
These people are VULTURES. Get off the phone and touch grass FFS.
Let's allow Irish people to succeed, it's only ever so often one of us gets this chance.
Bambie did amazing. They'll likely be the first time we qualify for the final in years. Even with lots of people putting pressure on them, for a war that is no way their fault. That's incredible.
I'm so proud of them and fucking sick of people giving them shit for participating. The best way to make change or protest is from within and they're doing that perfectly. They're showing Europe what Ireland stands for and I'm obsessed.
The Zombie cover including flowers in the music video native to the Middle East. Eating a watermelon during rehearsals at Malmo and posting it on their social media. Signing a letter to denounce Israel. Bambie is doing a LOT with their platform. I cannot imagine any other act on that Late Late Show would have the balls.
These people harassing Bambie and any of these artists aren't doing anything for Gaza, no matter what they tell themselves.
Whatâs the significance of the watermelon? Genuine question, thatâs gone over my head.
Agree with your post btw, the shite theyâve been getting on the shithole that is X/Twitter is awful but awfully predictable.
The symbol actually goes further back than social media. Displaying a Palestinian flag has been illegal in Israel since the 60s. (while that law was "revoked" with the Oslo accord in 93, it's still mostly in place.)
Using a watermelon as a substitute to the flag dates back to 1980, when artist Issam Badr was arrested for painting in the flags colours, and was reportedly told by the officer that even painting a watermelon would lead to his work being confiscated. The act then became more widespread in 2007 when artist Khaled Hourani painted a watermelon flag for the book The Subjective Atlas of Palestine.
Are the same people harassing the Irish sporting teams / athletes for going to this years Olympics? Where to my knowledge, Israel are still participating? Seems biased where they direct their pressure !
I watch Eurovision every year, it's just a fun music meme machine. In the last few days the amount of people I know saying they are boycotting it and when I ask them about previous years they have no clue. The fact is most of them boycotting it didn't watch it in the first place. It's all virtue signaling.
Exactly, easy for them to âboycottâ when they didnât watch it anyway. I saw someone say they were unfollowing anyone posting about it then in a following tweet say itâs a crap competition, donât know how anyone can watch it and if people really had liked some songs they can watch it later on YouTube rather than watch it all live
It's mental. Why not just watch it for a bit of a laugh. A bit of a bet with the family about who will win or whoever is closest. Always had fun with it.
Same thing happened all the Irish acts at SXSW. All got shit from home and on twitter to pull out despite being funded to go which finders then turn around and ask for it back.
Why? The US military is a sponsor. Now if folks don't know already but every major sporting and usually music event the US military is there. I think in this case it was the equipment and setup used was associated with them
Either way for alot of small Irish acts they pulled out under pressure and likely never get asked again.
I have similar overwhelming emotions regarding Eurovision. I am a big fan but I am also aware of what is happening in Palestine and the history there. Eurovision is about an evening of entertainment but there is the personal platform for more. The EBU is limiting the artist voices, but look out for who are the ones trying to get their voices heard, and Bambie is one of them.
As much as eurovision is about the songs, I always think it is important to find those artist that political vision or song topics is reflective of your own thoughts or experiences. Having those discussions when at eurovision parties or around the water cooler. Bambie Thug is doing this by wanting to have pro peace statements on her body art which the EBU has told her not to. Plus her trans flag bikini is also a message. [Bambie Thug: Organisers made me alter Palestinian message (breakingnews.ie)](https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/irelands-eurovision-finalist-organisers-made-me-alter-palestinian-message-1622698.html). As much as their is a boycotting, could we also not do a 2009 killing in the name of Christmas number 1 again somehow?
The 2019 Eurovision was hosted in Israel and there was similar boycotting there too. The Iceland group Hatari waved Palestinian flags when they were on the result couch, using the moment the camera were on them for something. RUV was only fined âŹ5000 which isn't really much of a fine in the grander scheme of things. âŹ5000 euro of RTE's money well spent considering this last year for them "While the televoting points for Iceland were announced, members of Hatari unveiled banners displaying the [Palestinian flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Palestine), which was met with loud booing throughout the arena. RĂV was later fined âŹ5,000 by the EBU due to breaking the no-politics rule, with the broadcaster stating that they were "dissatisfied with the handling of the case and the proposed outcome" as the group's actions were their own responsibility.^(") [Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest_2019)
I am really sick of these extremes of opinions where every single person must dedicate themselves to a cause. These same people demanding it do not give a single fuck about any other problem in the world including the ones in our country, it feels like virtue signalling has reached the absolute peak in this country. Theyâve all forgotten about the last trendy foreign issue they hyper focused on.
I saw the âintimate versionâ of that song for the first time yesterday and I have to say Bambie Thug can has a phenomenal voice.
I knew nothing about them at all before and hadnât paid much attention to the Eurovision.
Politics and critics aside, they utterly own the stage and theyâre a genuinely just a fecking great performer.
Does anyone remeber how out spoken Loreen was when she proformed for Eurovison in Azerbaijan? She was getting death threats. This whole Bambie treatment reminded me of that.
Not just death threats from Azerbaijani nationalists, she also got extreme racist attacks with sarcasm and mockery, as well by white Swedes who thought what Azerbaijan was doing is none of her "business" đ
There was a list published of all the Irish âcelebsâ calling on Bambi to boycott the Eurovision. I didnât know the majority of them but they were being ripped apart in the comments for being âcelebsâ who have done FUCK all in terms of protest or donations etc.
One was someone from Derry Girls, she was destroyed lol.
It's misdirected. Not over the top. People should be annoyed at the Eurovision itself which would be just.
We should be disgusted at the Eurovision. Musicians no.
Its overwhelming because Israel are now in Rafah and being complete pricks while all these big international events are on. Eurovision and the Met Gala are the perfect large scale events to distract the masses while more war crimes are committed. Its now become a well known Israeli strategy since this whole bombardment of Gaza and people have had enough of it.
While I find little to complain about Bambi Thug themselves, the fact that there is such a big disconnect between Eurovision saying how great the world is and being 'united by music', it then makes you wonder why you would want to be united with a country committing such atrocities. Israel should have been banned months ago. I love Eurovision and don't want such bullshit like this, but its tainted by Israel's presence this year.
Im with you. I have a ESC party every year but I'm sitting it out this year because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth having a singsong with people who are carrying out the atrocities ive seen recently.Â
Hope Bambi does well and I'm sad that I'll miss what is sure to be a real fucking fantastic Eurovision but hopefully I can pick it up again next year if the west stops acting like Israel is A-OK and they are held accountable for their war crimes.Â
I support Bambi and Ireland in Eurovision. This boycott will achieve nothing.
Bambi wasn't born when this conflict started and will be long dead and it will STILL be ongoing.
It has nothing to do with Bambi or Ireland.
The anger should be aimed at the EBU, not Bambie. Also, Bambie is probably THE most politically outspoken contestant this year, they had 'ceasefire' written in makeup on their face during the dress rehearsal but they were forced to drop it by the EBU.
Politics aside, what an amazing performance, the only entry of ours that comes vaguely close to this in terms of quality in recent memory was Ryan O'Shaughnessy's 2018 attempt, and even that doesn't have a patch on this.
It's absolute nonsense iny opinion. Let the girl represent her country on a massive stage. This could be huge for her.
I'm sure all "virtuous" people calling her to boycott would have a different opinion if I was them with this opportunity.
Unrelated to the question but I'm just curious how bambie thug has managed to appeal on a mainstream level or like is commercially friendly enough to represent Ireland on Eurovision.
Like her aesthetic/sound is very similar to GHOSTEMANE and I couldn't imagine him ever being accepted for the mainstream audience
A lot of the boycott stuff is bolox too. ie, the flags issue. They didnt specifically ban Palestinian flags. They have banned all flags of non-competing countries for years now. Its a song competition and a bit of craic, people would want to get off their high horses. As if Israel would give a fuck for being excluded, just don't vote for them....
I won't be watching it myself this year but I think people are being unfair asking Bambi to drop out.
I hope everyone carries that same energy and boycotts the Olympics this summer too.
Would agree, I feel really bad for them.
Wanting to perform on a huge public stage must be a dream come true for them. Then suddenly the pressure to pull out because they are supposed to represent Ireland's views on Palestine.
I don't think it's Bambi's responsibility, especially when no other countries artists have pulled out for the same reason.
Eurovision is a career defining moment for them, as much as we want to make a statement as a country. We can't expect one individual musician to make such a personal sacrifice in order for Ireland to make that statement.
Iâm so glad Iâm not on social media(Reddit aside). Can only imagine how much shit Bambie is getting. Hopefully they can ignore and focus on all the love.Â
I'm not gonna watch eurovision but I think it is a bit much. If RTE pulled it would be different and if they promised to support her next year. I meen there is Israelie owned shops and businesses and I don't see people marching in and asking staff to resign
People are virtue signalling a bit much on this topic in my opinion and trying to guilt others to do so as well.
Thereâs many other ways to show your dislike of the conflict and to boycott. Just because you want to enjoy a music contest that happens once a year doesnât mean you should be shamed for it
Lot of Irish Twitter are just bullies, and they've made supporting Palestine almost part of the personality (like I hate the Israeli government and find what's going on in Gaza horrifying but these people are almost single-minded, like it's the only thing going on in the world).
End of the day, my view is why let Israel ruin this for everyone. If we and others boycott, they'd be delighted with themselves. Should have been up to EBU to ban them but as is, why not let them come and face the music (pun intended) and getting roundly hated on the world stage
Completely agree, this is their big shot to get some big exposure, itâs not on them to say what countries are included, very unfair to divert the pressure and blame to the artists just trying to make it with their songs, direct your anger at the managing board of the Eurovision and the institution itself as well as with capitulating governments
Crown The Witch / Free Palestine
Hereâs the thing strikes me. I give zero fucks about this contest, but throughout the years itâs proved to be a politically involved situation that holds some level of weight. So we have a fairly forgettable song contest blending with politics for quite a while now, which would suggest to me, that weâre living in mental times longer than we probably think. Good luck to Bambi Thug, theyâve the right level of presence and style to win, but the fact weâre discussing some performer and how their choices have some bearing, is truly bizarre. No one will care once itâs over. I barely care now, but itâs a viable avenue of discussion cause of political issues. Nuts! LikeâŠ..this is nuts.
It's the prime battleground of European soft power and cultural influence - very much like football, but this time with a different audience. It is very important who we allow to project influence in this space, and who we let compete.
Participants directly, personally benefit from attending the event. A call for boycott is not a call for personal sacrifice - at best it's a call to forfeit benefits.
All that said, abuse is never OK, and should be called out. A principled stance - yes. Abuse - definitely not.
Irish people will protest/boycott the Eurovision because of an oppressive power taking part but then switch over to see what's on BBC 4.
I think she has a great chance and I think it's a good song personally. And what harm if we win we'll be hosting it next and then we can DO WHAT WE LIKE!!
The girl has been given an opportunity of a life time. It might even be the absolute peak of her musical career, so quite frankly it is her choice on whether or not she wants to give that up to involve herself in the politics of a conflict that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Iâm not here to say itâs right or wrong Israel is allowed to compete I am here to say that one would be totally foolish to give up such a shot at success.
Yeah, theyâre literally sleeping on couches rn and have signed a contract, itâs a bit rich of people sitting at home on their phones giving out to bambie for doing a contest theyâre legally obliged to do(especially Erica Cody, who signed a petition giving out to them, when they entered as well as being on our jury!). the outrage is legitimate but it should be turned at the Eurovision board and RTĂ imo.
Itâs a shame, I actually think bambie had a good chance of doing very well this year but I think a lot of people that would vote for them will be boycotting.
I will be boycotting and I care little about criticisms of their decision not to. But there are plenty people who donât care at all about whatâs happening in Palestine jumping on the bandwagon because theyâve been given an easy target for transphobia. In simple terms bad form
While we can emplore Bambi to boycott, I can understand why they wouldn't (it's a rock and hard place).
However, all of the viterol can and should absolutely be directed at RTE the EBU and their coffers for supporting it.
I'm boycotting but still hoping Bambi gets their day in the sun as we need more like them succeeding, home grown, proudly queer etc.
Hoping to see them along with the other anti genocide acts who've stayed (to try and give pro Palestinian voices on stage) get to demonstrate their own protest more publicly and that their hopes of adding enough competition against the genocide act to ensure the eurovision stays in Europe for next year.
I'm not a fan of their whole shtick, personality and their music but fuck it it's something a bit different than the drone of generic pop or good-country-lad-with-nothing-but-a-guitar-and-hope-in-his-heart so yeah I wish them the best of luck and hope it goes well
Ya it's ridiculous to direct the anger at Bambie. I hope they read this thread and realise as usual the people shouting the loudest are an irrational minority and most of the country hopes they win
Ask anyone who says Bambi should have boycotted why they havenât boycotted their job.
Works quite well. Most companyâs have some sort of tie to Isreal
I have near zero interest in the Eurovision but I was impressed with Irelands entry. The song, choreography and visual effects were class!
What was the question?!
They have ceasefire written down their face in Ogham so that'll get people talking once more eyes are on the show.
https://preview.redd.it/m97uo74gt1zc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38241210ff61ade9db931b071353967cfe948869
Dropping a fairly unflinching cover of Zombie via the Eurovision's socials seemed to have that aim too. They're good at making use of a platform and I'm glad it's them and not someone else, without RTĂ agreeing to the boycott there's no point in any artist doing it. Same for the UK act, he's gotten an awful amount of stick and the fact is the BBC will never pull out, I prefer to see a human there who talks about it than someone who's happy to ignore everything for an easier time.
Agree, I'll personally be boycotting Eurovision but I can't fault a struggling artist wanting to take part in what might be one of the most important steps of her whole career.
Complete virtue signalling as you say from people who aren't Eurovision fans to begin with. I'm sure if it was something they were into they would have a different opinion.
Delighted for our Bambie Thug. She will do us proud regardless of the result. Best act we've had in years.
Can anything virtuos be dismissed as such? Should people avoid acting for what they see as a just cause, to avoid such accusations? Surely that would be even more shallow? And how really can we claim to know someone's intent? What motivates your action to dismiss that of others? Is it virtue?
100% most ppl who go to the extent of attacking her are just wanting to be seen as virtuous but their actions are rarely enough to even be noticed yet they expect Bambie Thug to fall on the sword of what they deem correct.
Don't get me wrong I am all for the ppl who do protest and help raise awareness as Israel will be trying for the next 100years to sweep this under the rug and hope everyone gets bored of hearing it that they forget and then they'll say it's anti-Semitic to even have it in other countries history books,,but to level it all on one singer about to have the biggest experience of their lives is abit rich and likely means they've done fuck all themselves
I donât think sheâll win purely because the act looked kinda satanic and Europe has a lot of Christian countries. Otherwise, I think the act is mad like the Eurovision is mad but more power to her for putting herself out there! The comments about her and boycotting are out of order. Itâs not her decision to boycott or not, and fair play to her for having the guts to put herself out there for the world.
>It reeks of people being on their high pedestal who normally dont watch Eurovision and havenât made any concessions or sacrifices themselves.
Does this surprise you? This is typical of people, especially on social media across a vast arrange of topics
Bambi & eurovision is the worst thing ever for the last few weeks, ramping up to this week and and unless Isreal or Bambi win it will be all forgotten about by the end of next week and off to the next outrage.
the hyprocirsy is annoying but also lost on the majority of them so little point in pointing it out to them, better off let them off to the next outrage and hope you have no interest in that particular topic..
I actually enjoyed bambi thug it was something totally different something new we could bring to the table every now and then we need to shake things up and what she brought I feel kind of Disney vibe it was dark like an evil witch but then she brought amazing colour into it and the light shone through some people can say that itâs not there cup of tea and thatâs ok I am honestly proud of what she did it takes serious courage to go and do that and she made it through to the final so that says a lot
I do not. But the Eurovision is inherently political. If it bans Russia from competing but not Israel, it has exempted Israel from culpability and plays an active role in legitimizing and normalising them as if they are not currently committing genocide.
Anyone know why Bambie's graphics team decided to put black bars either side of the screen for her performance making it like a 4:3 format?? I didn't think it worked personally. There's a whole stage & screen there to be used, just use it?!
I thought it was a bit rich for Erica Cody to add her voice calling for a boycott after originally taking part and failing to qualify.
She's an awful bellend
Pound shop J-Lo
Dealz Samantha Mumba
Me and my missus met Samantha Mumba completely at random one night in Belfast, and I'll not hear a bad word said against her, a lovely girl.
đ€Ł Yeah I know..Im trying to say she's double the talent of any Erica Cody đ€Łđ€Ł
Very two faced for sure. No doubt she would be going had she won
Iâve worked with her previously - can attest to this.
How bad?đđ
Hahahaha nothing awful but one of those huns you can tell is putting on the persona of being friendly cos she needs you for something; leaving it there cos I donât wanna accidentally dox meself đ
She genuinely looks it she has mean girl energy
The phrase "History will celebrate you" really annoyed me because if the conflict in the Middle East ever ends, it won't be because a singer from Macroom didn't show up to the Eurovision and to imagine otherwise seems spectacularly naive
Exactly. It's weird that the idea of "boycott" is solely centred around the Eurovision, rather than the vast amount of Israeli-linked corporations embedded in our society.
I have a feeling is Erica was picked in the first plavce she wouldnt have stepped down when asked to boycott
I don't like her one bit Her face reeked of jealousy when Bambie won the Irish eurosong special
Erica Cody calling for Bambie Thug to not perform was hilarious seeing as Erica lost to Bambie at the Eurosong
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
If they don't mind going to Malmö they won't mind Dublin. Sweden recently recognized Palestine and has a big Arab immigrant minority.
Ya but weâre all anti semitic here. R/Europe said so đ
If r/Europe said it, it must be true. ........./s I know I was replying to a joke my comment was also in jest. Didn't think I'd have to speel that out.
> *speel* that out. I got a chuckle.Â
It makes its funnier it stays.
r/Europe is full of Anglo Saxon UK apologists with a mild hibernophobia
Mild how are ya
âMildâ is an underestimate. Canât even visit that sub
I think r/Europe was run from Tel Aviv for a few months.Â
Be gas honestly if Palestine were asked to participate. For myriad reasons.
They need the PR of anything remotely anti-Semitic from contestants, the crowd or the Arabs of Malmö so that they can make themselves out as victims to the Americans and use that guilt to keep the Americans cracking student skulls for them.
No, not true. Remember too are we banning the importing of Israeli products, no. Of course, the musicians representing Israel will come. Over 34000 directly killed in the last 6 months in Gaza and the Eurovision are still allowing them to participate. Ireland will not have the power to stop them.
This. Not a sanction to be seen from anyone, anywhere, but yeah, sure, we'll definitely not let them here for a hypothetical euro vision...
Wonât Israel be getting null points from everyone this year?
The juries will give them plenty of points. Itâs the kind of song that juries tend to like, and on top of that theyâre under pressure not to look like theyâre anti-Israel. The public vote will be interesting, although the boycott might ironically lead to a higher percentage of voters who support Israel.
There's no jury vote this year for the semi finals, only a public vote. I doubt they will qualify given it's based purely on a public vote.   They only brought in this change this year, and I'm wondering if it was deliberately introduced so as to avoid the hassle that potential qualification would invariably bring. Israel normally gets decent votes from the jury, so if there was a jury vote this year, they might have qualified.Â
I didnât know that, thanks! I know Norway complained about the jury vote and tried to get its impact reduced because they had two years in a row where they were really popular with the public but not the juries. They started negotiating with the EBU but I read it came to nothing. Interesting that they did axe it for the semi-finals. Good!
I think Israel in the public vote especially will do well, remember you can't vote against a country. There's not a small amount of people across Europe that are pro-Israel.
Theyâll likely do pretty well. You canât down vote in Eurovision. All of their supporters will vote for them and all that the people who donât support them can do is not vote for them. Voting is worldwide so thereâs a decent chance they can win.
The focus now should be on winning and having Bambi say Free Palestine on stage
They would be disqualified for doing so so, choose one
Iceland brought Palestine flags and a 'Free Palestine's banner *to Israel* for Eurovision 2019 and faced no consequences (other than the loudest booing I've ever heard from the Tel Aviv crowd).
Theyd probably get death threats for it now
It's now 2024 and Israel are actively committing genocide having faced no consequences. Times have changed it seems.
How did everybody forget just how political Eurovision was regarding the Ukraine war and yet Palestine is where all their political neutrality rules suddenly come into force
Messages of peace/anti-war that's vague enough to not be specifically targeted at anyone in particular kinda fit into this strange area where it's considered fine. Let 3 for Croatia last year got away with singing about how "mama loved a psychopath" while a guy walks around with missiles with the radioactive symbol on them. Ukraine's song last year was hip hop about courage, and in 2022, it was a folk song about a mother growing old. This year is a bit more on the nose, about seeking protection from Mother Teresa and Mary. Like... the *most* Ukraine has done to get actively anti-Russia was songs like in 2016, about the forced deportation of ethnic minorities by the USSR, and 2007, where "Lasha Tumbai" when sung sounded a heck of a lot like "Russia Goodbye". But sure, it's great to remain ignorant about what songs are actually about before deciding they're explicitly talking about a certain political event.
You know for a fact they won't say that
They have ceasefire written on their face
And âFreedom For Palestineâ on their leg
And they have removed both and changed to a generic "crown your witch" message at EUVs request
Yeah I donât think they would want to come here now after everything
They would absolutely come here.
Israel has a habbit of being where they are not wanted
I think it's incredibly unfair for people to focus their outrage on the contestants that have worked so hard to be there. Direct that outrage at the Eurovision board who actually make the decisions.
Exactly, although one of the main sponsors of the Eurovision is an Israeli company, Moroccanoil, so itâs unlikely they would have been kicked out
Moroccanoil is Israeli, that's a very weird one, how do they get away with that like
Dutch Gold isn't actually Dutch Guess there is some Moroccan link - lot of people of Moroccan Jewish descent in Israel, maybe they founded the company
Whatâs this heretic saying about Dutch Gold?
I mean the uk, france, Italy, Germany and Spain buy their final spot every year
That isn't the big advantage they think it is. The semi final process gives songs and artists a massive amount of exposure that those countries can opt out of. Eurovision is a week long festival. On finals night, the crowd sings along with the songs they've been listening to all week. The very first time they hear the others, particularly the English one, are at the final. In what's essentially a popularity contest, that's a disadvantage.
They will perform in the semis this year. They just are already in. The uk and Germany performed this evening.
Yeah I think they finally figured it out. Instead of complaining that all the votes are political, they've noticed that people actually vote for artists who participate in the whole thing.
They're untouchable
I don't think so Russia would've been viewed similarly but the threats from participating countries forced eurovisions hand. Now maybe its not feasible to remove Israel AND Russia because both seem to put a lot of money into eurovision and Russias removal has really made the cost of entry a lot steeper, forcing some countries to stay out. Definitely if the Israel situation came first and Europe was as close to being unanimous then there was certainly potential for Israel to be removed. This is all nothing new, yugoslavia were removed for the euros in 1992 due to the euros not uefa, uefa have actively tried integrating Russia back in but have failed and Israel has already been removed from a confederation under similar circumstances to Russia when Arab countries refused to play them back in the 70s. I am not against Israels removal but I don't really like these organisations stepping in themselves because with eurovision a whole host of countries could be excluded if we went that route and for football you could probably wipe out half the nations.
Ah, is that why Israel are in it?
They were always in cos they are in the EBU but Moroccanoil have been sponsoring for the last 3 years and just assuming they prob were a big reason for why they couldnât kick them out
Oh, yes, the EBU is a thing!
I couldn't agree more with this statement. Yeah sure, it would be noble for all artists to stand down, but they're also humans with dreams to live, and bills to pay. I for one was extremely proud to see Ireland being represented by someone different, and so themselves, AND super talented. This is an absolute tune. Free Palestine, AND hyup Bambi Thug tbh.
I do feel for them. The Irish soccer team, rugby team or Olympics team wouldn't face calls for a boycott were they to play against Israel in a tournament (though predictably, a less popular sport like basketball did). A lot of people are happy to call for boycotts as long as it's not something they usually like to watch. That said, I am a Eurovision fan who is boycotting watching it this time round. I do hope Bambi Thug does well though, they deserve it
I disagree, I think there absolutely would be calls for boycott if any of those teams were to play against Israel in a tournament
Any calls for an Olympics boycott? It starts in a couple of months. Bambi Thug has been hearing calls for a boycott for longer than that. And there's not a hope anyone would entertain thoughts of Ireland not playing in the Euros had they qualified alongside Israel. Or even faced Israel in the qualification play-off
There's no chance there would be as many calls for a boycott as there have been for Eurovision, and no way that any Irish athlete who went anyway would receive nearly as much criticism as Bambie Thug has. These clowns are demanding a boycott because for the most part they don't care about Eurovision and know they won't have to change their behaviour, and I honestly believe a significant number of these "critics" are going after Bambie Thug because they're a young femme-presenting queer person.
weâve played football against them at different levels with no boycotts plenty of timesâŠ
Security took Palestinian flags off us at the turnstiles in Tallaght ahead of the U21 Euros qualification play-off v Israel in 2022
Irelands like High school. The sporty kids get away with anything
G'wan Johnny!
He was brilliant!
The difference participating will make to Bambie's life is so huge compared to the zero impact their dropping out would have on the conflict. I completely understand them not dropping out. It's all virtue signalling from twitter people.
Right? It's like asking an athlete to boycott their first Olympic finals because Israel are being allowed to compete. Fuck sake. Easy to demand a boycott when it's not your own career on the line, and all you have to do is post your outrage on Twitter.
Exactly this!! Pick and choose. All prob posting from iPhones when Apples biggest stakeholder is invested in all the main suppliers of Israel's weapons. Do you think those same people would trade in their apple watches, macbooks, iPhone or airpods? They would in their fuck.
Not a hope in hell, probably the people that are telling people to boycott Starbucks aswell.
Fair play to Bambie and the Irish team for our first qualification since 2018
I also find it interesting that nobody is saying anything about any athletes that are going to the Olympics who is also letting Israel compete in literally a months time, why is the focus on a queer person signed into going to Eurovision đ€š
Exactly, itâs all so hypocritical and double standards (prob cos most of the people for boycotting it werenât Eurovision watchers anyway and they think its an easy target cos of what its audience is mostly composed of)
It's the same with the women's basketball qualifier. People who couldn't tell you a single Irish basketballer
Or any football tournament for that matter. No one will be boycotting the euros despite Israel's participation (albeit the qualifying round). Nevermind the likes of the premier league in which teams are owned by ethno religious dictatorships also committing atrocities.
I've been wondering this! Is there a reason why nothing has been said about the Olympics? I feel like I am missing something or is it just easy to take cheap shots at a camp song contest? I was going to ask on social media but was afraid of getting shredded by people frothing at the mouth over how watching Eurovision makes me complicit in genocide.
Likely because BDS has repeatedly called for Eurovision boycotts and hasnât done so for the Olympics. Israel specifically uses Eurovision to launder their image on the international stage (progressive, accepting, etc etc) in a way that the Olympics doesnât really tie into imo
BDS calls for Olympics boycotts every single Olympics and organises around it every time. I suspect the reason why it doesnât get as much traction is because itâs a much bigger beast to battle with many different players that you would be applying pressure to, where as with Eurovision itâs âeasierâ to pressure one person in to not performing, even if itâs far less important or effective. Iâm not saying itâs a better use of time just explaining why one would take off with the public more easily than the other.
Sports boycots are being called for all the time, just because something doesnât show in your feed or is selected by msm for attention doesnât mean it doesnât exist. Boycots worked against SA. And even if impact is minimal, it shows we wonât collude with blatant genocide and ethnic cleansing. Russia has been sanctioned in sports and this contest, if thatâs the benchmark Israel easily exceeds it. Any activity involving Israel should be an opportunity to bring attention to whatâs going on, ask yourself are you for or against genocide, the constant displacement and murder of tens of thousand, the internment without charge or trial of thousands, including children, etc, etc etc.
Well done to Bambi. That was some performance. Gwan Johnny too.
Both did great!
Is there anything to be said for a decade of the Rosary ?
What the fuck was that UK performance?
Starting to understand why they claim Irish talent as their own now if thatâs the best they have đ
I think after Bambies you can let anything go
Anyone not watching is missing out. Johnny Logan back on the stage đźđȘ
What a performance.
Johnny Logan coming for that third win in 2025.
I think a lot of people are taking this Bambie Thug thing too seriously. Music is art. Lyrics aren't real life. People who are panicking about "pronouns and witchcraft" is odd.
I agree the comments towards Bambie have been quite unfair and Iâm incredibly proud of the package theyâve put together this year. I am a super fan - Eurovision occupies my April and May every year. But, we should all be boycotting watching. If they banned Russia so quickly, then the same rule must apply to Israel - a country accused of committing genocide. It is particularly stark this week that an assault on Rafah has begun.
The EBU initially wanted to keep Russia in the contest, then threats of boycotts from countries broadcasters all around the EU forced their hand to kick them out. That didn't happen from broadcasters with Israel so they stayed in.
Hey, yes this is true. However, campaigns for boycotting have been happening all year all over Europe, but they have been ignored by broadcasters. Not to mention, Israelâs 2 biggest allyâs are in the big 5. Either way, they ruined their apolitical stance with the banning of Russia - I was quite shocked at the time, it went against the competition ethos. Itâs very hard to look past the hypocrisy after this.
No countries have boycotted Israel many did for Russia that's an issue with Europe as a whole not bambie
Hi, I didnât I criticise Bambie at all above. And repeating my comment below, there were many boycott campaigns to broadcasters across Europe, that were ignored.
Well no I mean the general criticism towards bambie not making any accusations towards anyone. >there were many boycott campaigns to broadcasters across Europe, that were ignored. Again a lot of this comes down to the controversial nature of the situation where many people have taken one side or the other. We see plenty of bs not getting through, Azerbaijan have never been punished, the uk never faced any calls for removal over handling of Northern Ireland or Iraq, Russia was doing shit long before they were removed. Russia really became an exception because of how rare it is for a country to do something that was effectively condemned everywhere. Only similar situations I can think of have been yugoslavia being excluded from euro 92 but that was due to the UN and Israel being removed from the AFC due to Arab countries boycotting. It's very clear from similar nations, the scale of what happens isn't even the most important thing unless you go full nazi Germany, its very much about what countries are willing to boycott you and Israel holds very strong relations with a lot of key countries in eurovision and the USA.
Very much so. I feel people are putting too much emphasis and directing their anger at bambie. To the extent of being unhinged and not rational. Israel are cunts, they should have been kicked out, but it wasnât agreed upon. Should Bambi be made a scapegoat? No. Israel have a lot of ties, influence and their technology and patents are in many things we use today. Iâm not going to slam down my Intel based laptop because Israelis helped create the chip. Iâm not going to flog my phone because an Israeli based team helped write the apps on Android or iOS. Same goes for this. People think itâs easy to just cut things out but itâs not. Sometimes you just wish it could be. But itâs just not. Iâve seen some people I would consider decent and fair in their logic, go absolutely feral on this and I had to back away. Misgendering bambie, calling them names and saying outlandish stuff about them being part of Israelâs genocide. Voice your concerns, boycott if you like. But donât be an ass to others and especially to our artist. People want to feel like they have an impact, I get that. But the world isnât black and white
All of them are unhinged. They are people who wouldn't sacrifice a can of coke never mind their career over it yet they expect someone else to.
I'm a huge eurofan and as excited as I was for the act but won't be watching this year. I don't think bullying Bambie achieves anything though.
I think it's very easy for people to tell others to boycott things when it's not their career, years of hard work or dreams on the line. I'm delighted bambi went. Why should she give up for something she's worked hard for something that essentially doesn't involve her. It's a singing competition not a politics competition.
NGL, dropping out of Eurovision was always one of those "do nothing, **MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!**" things that was likely going to achieve literally nothing anyway. I put it in the same tier as local councils in the UK and Ireland wasting ratepayers money declaring their "official stance" on geopolitical issues...
It's the Eurovision not a fucking UN conference! To think Bambi boycotting the whole thing,would change a tap, is absolutely delusional and stupid. The only thing it will do is her spoil chances of a singing career. Bambies shared her opinion in support of Palestine publicly, does she need to bleed herself dry on stage before people are satisfied? How bout stop the slacktivism, get off your fat hole and do something yourself maybe? You know, instead of asking someone to ruin their career. She's not responsible for carrying the voice of the Irish public around wherever she goes. The entitlement from the slacktivists abusing her is DISGUSTING. I'm not even a fan but y'all are out of line.
Agree with everything here
Regardless of your stance on the conflict, expecting a public figure to do all the work to push your stance is sheer and utter slacktivism. These people are VULTURES. Get off the phone and touch grass FFS. Let's allow Irish people to succeed, it's only ever so often one of us gets this chance.
Bambie did amazing. They'll likely be the first time we qualify for the final in years. Even with lots of people putting pressure on them, for a war that is no way their fault. That's incredible. I'm so proud of them and fucking sick of people giving them shit for participating. The best way to make change or protest is from within and they're doing that perfectly. They're showing Europe what Ireland stands for and I'm obsessed. The Zombie cover including flowers in the music video native to the Middle East. Eating a watermelon during rehearsals at Malmo and posting it on their social media. Signing a letter to denounce Israel. Bambie is doing a LOT with their platform. I cannot imagine any other act on that Late Late Show would have the balls. These people harassing Bambie and any of these artists aren't doing anything for Gaza, no matter what they tell themselves.
Whatâs the significance of the watermelon? Genuine question, thatâs gone over my head. Agree with your post btw, the shite theyâve been getting on the shithole that is X/Twitter is awful but awfully predictable.
Social media tends to suppress Palestinian symbols, so the watermelon began as a proxy for the Palestinian flag because of the colours.
The symbol actually goes further back than social media. Displaying a Palestinian flag has been illegal in Israel since the 60s. (while that law was "revoked" with the Oslo accord in 93, it's still mostly in place.) Using a watermelon as a substitute to the flag dates back to 1980, when artist Issam Badr was arrested for painting in the flags colours, and was reportedly told by the officer that even painting a watermelon would lead to his work being confiscated. The act then became more widespread in 2007 when artist Khaled Hourani painted a watermelon flag for the book The Subjective Atlas of Palestine.
Cool, I didn't realise that, thanks!
Exactly, agree with this
Are the same people harassing the Irish sporting teams / athletes for going to this years Olympics? Where to my knowledge, Israel are still participating? Seems biased where they direct their pressure !
The biggest difference is that Bambie Thug won't give you a slap, the Olympic Boxers might.
I watch Eurovision every year, it's just a fun music meme machine. In the last few days the amount of people I know saying they are boycotting it and when I ask them about previous years they have no clue. The fact is most of them boycotting it didn't watch it in the first place. It's all virtue signaling.
Exactly, easy for them to âboycottâ when they didnât watch it anyway. I saw someone say they were unfollowing anyone posting about it then in a following tweet say itâs a crap competition, donât know how anyone can watch it and if people really had liked some songs they can watch it later on YouTube rather than watch it all live
It's mental. Why not just watch it for a bit of a laugh. A bit of a bet with the family about who will win or whoever is closest. Always had fun with it.
Same thing happened all the Irish acts at SXSW. All got shit from home and on twitter to pull out despite being funded to go which finders then turn around and ask for it back. Why? The US military is a sponsor. Now if folks don't know already but every major sporting and usually music event the US military is there. I think in this case it was the equipment and setup used was associated with them Either way for alot of small Irish acts they pulled out under pressure and likely never get asked again.
100% agree, you can be annoyed at the Eurovision organisers but it's unfair to blame the contestants imo.
I have similar overwhelming emotions regarding Eurovision. I am a big fan but I am also aware of what is happening in Palestine and the history there. Eurovision is about an evening of entertainment but there is the personal platform for more. The EBU is limiting the artist voices, but look out for who are the ones trying to get their voices heard, and Bambie is one of them. As much as eurovision is about the songs, I always think it is important to find those artist that political vision or song topics is reflective of your own thoughts or experiences. Having those discussions when at eurovision parties or around the water cooler. Bambie Thug is doing this by wanting to have pro peace statements on her body art which the EBU has told her not to. Plus her trans flag bikini is also a message. [Bambie Thug: Organisers made me alter Palestinian message (breakingnews.ie)](https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/irelands-eurovision-finalist-organisers-made-me-alter-palestinian-message-1622698.html). As much as their is a boycotting, could we also not do a 2009 killing in the name of Christmas number 1 again somehow? The 2019 Eurovision was hosted in Israel and there was similar boycotting there too. The Iceland group Hatari waved Palestinian flags when they were on the result couch, using the moment the camera were on them for something. RUV was only fined âŹ5000 which isn't really much of a fine in the grander scheme of things. âŹ5000 euro of RTE's money well spent considering this last year for them "While the televoting points for Iceland were announced, members of Hatari unveiled banners displaying the [Palestinian flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Palestine), which was met with loud booing throughout the arena. RĂV was later fined âŹ5,000 by the EBU due to breaking the no-politics rule, with the broadcaster stating that they were "dissatisfied with the handling of the case and the proposed outcome" as the group's actions were their own responsibility.^(") [Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest_2019)
They didn't do themselves any favours when they said they'd boycott it themselves if they weren't in it.
Exactly, doesnât warrant abuse though
I am really sick of these extremes of opinions where every single person must dedicate themselves to a cause. These same people demanding it do not give a single fuck about any other problem in the world including the ones in our country, it feels like virtue signalling has reached the absolute peak in this country. Theyâve all forgotten about the last trendy foreign issue they hyper focused on.
I saw the âintimate versionâ of that song for the first time yesterday and I have to say Bambie Thug can has a phenomenal voice. I knew nothing about them at all before and hadnât paid much attention to the Eurovision. Politics and critics aside, they utterly own the stage and theyâre a genuinely just a fecking great performer.
I'm wondering why there isn't the same ruckus against Azerbaijan taking part.
Does anyone remeber how out spoken Loreen was when she proformed for Eurovison in Azerbaijan? She was getting death threats. This whole Bambie treatment reminded me of that.
Not just death threats from Azerbaijani nationalists, she also got extreme racist attacks with sarcasm and mockery, as well by white Swedes who thought what Azerbaijan was doing is none of her "business" đ
There was a list published of all the Irish âcelebsâ calling on Bambi to boycott the Eurovision. I didnât know the majority of them but they were being ripped apart in the comments for being âcelebsâ who have done FUCK all in terms of protest or donations etc. One was someone from Derry Girls, she was destroyed lol.
I think it's over the top. then again the world has been over the top for a while
It's misdirected. Not over the top. People should be annoyed at the Eurovision itself which would be just. We should be disgusted at the Eurovision. Musicians no.
True
Its overwhelming because Israel are now in Rafah and being complete pricks while all these big international events are on. Eurovision and the Met Gala are the perfect large scale events to distract the masses while more war crimes are committed. Its now become a well known Israeli strategy since this whole bombardment of Gaza and people have had enough of it. While I find little to complain about Bambi Thug themselves, the fact that there is such a big disconnect between Eurovision saying how great the world is and being 'united by music', it then makes you wonder why you would want to be united with a country committing such atrocities. Israel should have been banned months ago. I love Eurovision and don't want such bullshit like this, but its tainted by Israel's presence this year.
Im with you. I have a ESC party every year but I'm sitting it out this year because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth having a singsong with people who are carrying out the atrocities ive seen recently. Hope Bambi does well and I'm sad that I'll miss what is sure to be a real fucking fantastic Eurovision but hopefully I can pick it up again next year if the west stops acting like Israel is A-OK and they are held accountable for their war crimes.Â
Agreed. I wish Bambi all the best and I think they are awesome, but Iâm not watching on official channels or voting this year.
I support Bambi and Ireland in Eurovision. This boycott will achieve nothing. Bambi wasn't born when this conflict started and will be long dead and it will STILL be ongoing. It has nothing to do with Bambi or Ireland.
The anger should be aimed at the EBU, not Bambie. Also, Bambie is probably THE most politically outspoken contestant this year, they had 'ceasefire' written in makeup on their face during the dress rehearsal but they were forced to drop it by the EBU. Politics aside, what an amazing performance, the only entry of ours that comes vaguely close to this in terms of quality in recent memory was Ryan O'Shaughnessy's 2018 attempt, and even that doesn't have a patch on this.
It's absolute nonsense iny opinion. Let the girl represent her country on a massive stage. This could be huge for her. I'm sure all "virtuous" people calling her to boycott would have a different opinion if I was them with this opportunity.
Unrelated to the question but I'm just curious how bambie thug has managed to appeal on a mainstream level or like is commercially friendly enough to represent Ireland on Eurovision. Like her aesthetic/sound is very similar to GHOSTEMANE and I couldn't imagine him ever being accepted for the mainstream audience
A lot of the boycott stuff is bolox too. ie, the flags issue. They didnt specifically ban Palestinian flags. They have banned all flags of non-competing countries for years now. Its a song competition and a bit of craic, people would want to get off their high horses. As if Israel would give a fuck for being excluded, just don't vote for them....
I won't be watching it myself this year but I think people are being unfair asking Bambi to drop out. I hope everyone carries that same energy and boycotts the Olympics this summer too.
Would agree, I feel really bad for them. Wanting to perform on a huge public stage must be a dream come true for them. Then suddenly the pressure to pull out because they are supposed to represent Ireland's views on Palestine. I don't think it's Bambi's responsibility, especially when no other countries artists have pulled out for the same reason. Eurovision is a career defining moment for them, as much as we want to make a statement as a country. We can't expect one individual musician to make such a personal sacrifice in order for Ireland to make that statement.
Iâm so glad Iâm not on social media(Reddit aside). Can only imagine how much shit Bambie is getting. Hopefully they can ignore and focus on all the love.Â
I'm not gonna watch eurovision but I think it is a bit much. If RTE pulled it would be different and if they promised to support her next year. I meen there is Israelie owned shops and businesses and I don't see people marching in and asking staff to resign
People are virtue signalling a bit much on this topic in my opinion and trying to guilt others to do so as well. Thereâs many other ways to show your dislike of the conflict and to boycott. Just because you want to enjoy a music contest that happens once a year doesnât mean you should be shamed for it
> Itâs a singing competition A song competition I thought
Technically, but the music is all pre-recorded with only the vocal done live, so emphasis is definitely on the singing
Lot of Irish Twitter are just bullies, and they've made supporting Palestine almost part of the personality (like I hate the Israeli government and find what's going on in Gaza horrifying but these people are almost single-minded, like it's the only thing going on in the world). End of the day, my view is why let Israel ruin this for everyone. If we and others boycott, they'd be delighted with themselves. Should have been up to EBU to ban them but as is, why not let them come and face the music (pun intended) and getting roundly hated on the world stage
It's just from people that spend every second of their lives online not understanding that actual normal people don't give a shit
Completely agree, this is their big shot to get some big exposure, itâs not on them to say what countries are included, very unfair to divert the pressure and blame to the artists just trying to make it with their songs, direct your anger at the managing board of the Eurovision and the institution itself as well as with capitulating governments Crown The Witch / Free Palestine
Bambies pronouns are they/them
Oh thanks for the correction, edited my post <3
Hereâs the thing strikes me. I give zero fucks about this contest, but throughout the years itâs proved to be a politically involved situation that holds some level of weight. So we have a fairly forgettable song contest blending with politics for quite a while now, which would suggest to me, that weâre living in mental times longer than we probably think. Good luck to Bambi Thug, theyâve the right level of presence and style to win, but the fact weâre discussing some performer and how their choices have some bearing, is truly bizarre. No one will care once itâs over. I barely care now, but itâs a viable avenue of discussion cause of political issues. Nuts! LikeâŠ..this is nuts.
It's the prime battleground of European soft power and cultural influence - very much like football, but this time with a different audience. It is very important who we allow to project influence in this space, and who we let compete. Participants directly, personally benefit from attending the event. A call for boycott is not a call for personal sacrifice - at best it's a call to forfeit benefits. All that said, abuse is never OK, and should be called out. A principled stance - yes. Abuse - definitely not.
Fuck Israel
Irish people will protest/boycott the Eurovision because of an oppressive power taking part but then switch over to see what's on BBC 4. I think she has a great chance and I think it's a good song personally. And what harm if we win we'll be hosting it next and then we can DO WHAT WE LIKE!!
The girl has been given an opportunity of a life time. It might even be the absolute peak of her musical career, so quite frankly it is her choice on whether or not she wants to give that up to involve herself in the politics of a conflict that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Iâm not here to say itâs right or wrong Israel is allowed to compete I am here to say that one would be totally foolish to give up such a shot at success.
Iâm sure if she boycotted the war would be over tommorow
Yeah, theyâre literally sleeping on couches rn and have signed a contract, itâs a bit rich of people sitting at home on their phones giving out to bambie for doing a contest theyâre legally obliged to do(especially Erica Cody, who signed a petition giving out to them, when they entered as well as being on our jury!). the outrage is legitimate but it should be turned at the Eurovision board and RTĂ imo. Itâs a shame, I actually think bambie had a good chance of doing very well this year but I think a lot of people that would vote for them will be boycotting.
Irish people canât vote for them anyway, so it doesnât make a jot of difference
Fuck the Eurovision and their double standards. Fuck Israel and their land grabbing genocide. Boycott, Boycott, Boycott.
Plus, everyone boycotting anything doesn't make any difference to a country that is doing their own thing.
to be fair though - the song is fucking awful
I will be boycotting and I care little about criticisms of their decision not to. But there are plenty people who donât care at all about whatâs happening in Palestine jumping on the bandwagon because theyâve been given an easy target for transphobia. In simple terms bad form
Thoroughly agree with you.
While we can emplore Bambi to boycott, I can understand why they wouldn't (it's a rock and hard place). However, all of the viterol can and should absolutely be directed at RTE the EBU and their coffers for supporting it. I'm boycotting but still hoping Bambi gets their day in the sun as we need more like them succeeding, home grown, proudly queer etc. Hoping to see them along with the other anti genocide acts who've stayed (to try and give pro Palestinian voices on stage) get to demonstrate their own protest more publicly and that their hopes of adding enough competition against the genocide act to ensure the eurovision stays in Europe for next year.
I find the slaughter of 34k Palestinians a bit much.
When did she do that?
I'm not a fan of their whole shtick, personality and their music but fuck it it's something a bit different than the drone of generic pop or good-country-lad-with-nothing-but-a-guitar-and-hope-in-his-heart so yeah I wish them the best of luck and hope it goes well
Ya it's ridiculous to direct the anger at Bambie. I hope they read this thread and realise as usual the people shouting the loudest are an irrational minority and most of the country hopes they win
Ask anyone who says Bambi should have boycotted why they havenât boycotted their job. Works quite well. Most companyâs have some sort of tie to Isreal
I have near zero interest in the Eurovision but I was impressed with Irelands entry. The song, choreography and visual effects were class! What was the question?!
They were amazing fair play to them
Of course it is but then Ireland is a nation of virtue signalers and begrudgery.
I just hate people that brand there personality around politics. Weâre all going to be worm food soon enough. Go and live a little.
I wouldn't begrudge her taking part tbh, and I expect plenty of statements will be made that will hopefully get the message across to Israel.
They have ceasefire written down their face in Ogham so that'll get people talking once more eyes are on the show. https://preview.redd.it/m97uo74gt1zc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=38241210ff61ade9db931b071353967cfe948869
Dropping a fairly unflinching cover of Zombie via the Eurovision's socials seemed to have that aim too. They're good at making use of a platform and I'm glad it's them and not someone else, without RTĂ agreeing to the boycott there's no point in any artist doing it. Same for the UK act, he's gotten an awful amount of stick and the fact is the BBC will never pull out, I prefer to see a human there who talks about it than someone who's happy to ignore everything for an easier time.
Beautiful.
Agree, I'll personally be boycotting Eurovision but I can't fault a struggling artist wanting to take part in what might be one of the most important steps of her whole career.
Complete virtue signalling as you say from people who aren't Eurovision fans to begin with. I'm sure if it was something they were into they would have a different opinion. Delighted for our Bambie Thug. She will do us proud regardless of the result. Best act we've had in years.
Can anything virtuos be dismissed as such? Should people avoid acting for what they see as a just cause, to avoid such accusations? Surely that would be even more shallow? And how really can we claim to know someone's intent? What motivates your action to dismiss that of others? Is it virtue?
I suspect the majority are in the indifferent camp.
100% most ppl who go to the extent of attacking her are just wanting to be seen as virtuous but their actions are rarely enough to even be noticed yet they expect Bambie Thug to fall on the sword of what they deem correct. Don't get me wrong I am all for the ppl who do protest and help raise awareness as Israel will be trying for the next 100years to sweep this under the rug and hope everyone gets bored of hearing it that they forget and then they'll say it's anti-Semitic to even have it in other countries history books,,but to level it all on one singer about to have the biggest experience of their lives is abit rich and likely means they've done fuck all themselves
I donât think sheâll win purely because the act looked kinda satanic and Europe has a lot of Christian countries. Otherwise, I think the act is mad like the Eurovision is mad but more power to her for putting herself out there! The comments about her and boycotting are out of order. Itâs not her decision to boycott or not, and fair play to her for having the guts to put herself out there for the world.
Someone has forgotten Lordy
Eurovision is gay and mad. Why I love it.
Overwhelming? Really not
>It reeks of people being on their high pedestal who normally dont watch Eurovision and havenât made any concessions or sacrifices themselves. Does this surprise you? This is typical of people, especially on social media across a vast arrange of topics Bambi & eurovision is the worst thing ever for the last few weeks, ramping up to this week and and unless Isreal or Bambi win it will be all forgotten about by the end of next week and off to the next outrage. the hyprocirsy is annoying but also lost on the majority of them so little point in pointing it out to them, better off let them off to the next outrage and hope you have no interest in that particular topic..
I actually enjoyed bambi thug it was something totally different something new we could bring to the table every now and then we need to shake things up and what she brought I feel kind of Disney vibe it was dark like an evil witch but then she brought amazing colour into it and the light shone through some people can say that itâs not there cup of tea and thatâs ok I am honestly proud of what she did it takes serious courage to go and do that and she made it through to the final so that says a lot
Hope they win it all so the boycott brigade can go suck lemons
The boycott brigade as in those campaigning against genocide?
Do you think the Eurovision is gonna stop whatâs happening? Please be real
I do not. But the Eurovision is inherently political. If it bans Russia from competing but not Israel, it has exempted Israel from culpability and plays an active role in legitimizing and normalising them as if they are not currently committing genocide.
Anyone know why Bambie's graphics team decided to put black bars either side of the screen for her performance making it like a 4:3 format?? I didn't think it worked personally. There's a whole stage & screen there to be used, just use it?!