RTÉ has refused to comment on reports that Ireland was one of six countries on the verge of withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest just 25 minutes before the final in Malmö earlier this month.
At the time it was unclear whether Ireland's singer Bamby Thug would compete in the final, as the singer had missed the final rehearsal before the competition due to “issues” with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
They were among several performers who spoke out against Israel's participation in Eurovision due to the Gaza conflict, and also took issue with commentary by Israeli broadcaster Kan which attacked them before the final.
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After the competition, Bamby Thug said, “I'm so proud of all of us who have been fighting for this behind the scenes to make it into the top 10. It was so hard, so I'm so proud of us.”
“We want to say that Eurovision is us, the EBU is not Eurovision, the EBU is creating this, we don't care about them or the EBU anymore.”
Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Ireland were one of six nations that could withdraw from the tournament with 25 minutes to go before the final in Malmö, with Switzerland, Portugal, Norway, Greece and Great Britain also reported to be the winners.
Their sudden withdrawal would throw the contest into disarray, whittling it down to 19 finalists and leaving producers to fill around 20 minutes of airtime at the last minute. Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet also reported that several performers wanted to pull out of the event, turning “the final day into a drawn-out crisis meeting for the EBU and host broadcaster SVT.”
Asked to confirm whether Ireland was among the countries threatening to pull out in the run-up to the Eurovision final, as reported by VG, an RTÉ spokesman said: “We have no comment on this story.”
Bamby Thug was forced by the EBU to change the messages “Freedom” and “Cease” written in Ogham on his body ahead of his semi-final performance. An EBU spokesman said afterwards that the words written on the 31-year-old Thug's body during the dress rehearsal violated the competition rules, which were put in place to protect the non-political nature of the event.
Ireland ultimately finished in sixth place in their first Eurovision Song Contest final since 2018. The contest was won by another non-binary performer, Nemo, giving Switzerland its first victory since 1988.
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