Eurovision 2021: Italy winner Maneskin’s Damiano David denies ‘using cocaine’ after viral video

Damiano David from Italy’s Eurovision Song Contest 2021 winning group Maneskin has slammed claims he was using drugs during the show.

Maneskin won this year’s competition with their entry, Zitti e buoni, scoring a staggering 524 points, far ahead of the UK’s entry with James Newman suffering a devastating defeat with nil points. 

As the final unfolded on Saturday, footage began circulating online showing Maneskin singer Damiano David bending towards the table leading many to speculate that he was using cocaine. 

However, Damiano and his bandmates have vehemently denied he uses drugs and say he was simply picking glass off the table. 

When confronted about the moment in the video at the Eurovision press conference, Damiano stated: ‘Thomas [guitarist Thomas Raggi] broke a glass … I don’t use drugs, please guys, do not say that.

‘Don’t say that really. No cocaine please, do not say that.’ 

The band then posted a statement on their Instagram stories and said: ‘We are really shocked about what some people are saying Damiano doing drugs. 

‘We really are against drugs and we never used cocaine. We are ready to get tested, cause we have nothing to hide. We are here to play music and we are so happy about our Eurovision win and we wanna thank everyone for supporting us.’ 

‘Rock ‘n Roll never dies. We love you,’ they added. 

Eurovision got underway in Rotterdam with a scaled-down affair, which saw just 3,500 fans in the Ahoy Arena under strict instruction to stay seated. 

However, Måneskin couldn’t help but show their excitement when they won thanks to their riff-driven Zitti E Buoni (loosely translated as ‘shut up and behave’). 

Taking to the stage to collect their trophy, the lead singer said: ‘We just want to say to the whole of Europe, to the whole of the world, rock and roll never dies!’ 

The UK was represented by the older brother of chart-topping pop star John Newman, James Newman who performed the track Embers. He qualified automatically because the UK holds one of the guaranteed spots in the final as a major financial supporter of the contest. 

However, he scored zero points from all countries and gained nothing in the popular vote. Despite the poor result, James wasn’t disappointed with his performance, and tweeted after taking to the stage: ‘That was amazing.’ 

On the brighter side, Embers swept up the iTunes chart to number six after his performance.

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