The 17 biggest controversies in Eurovision Song Contest history after Israel’s lyric ban-Caroline Westbrook and Ellie Hutchings-Entertainment – Metro

Eurovision has had its fair share of controversies over the years (Picture: Getty Images)

Love it or hate it, the Eurovision Song Contest has produced some of the most memorable TV moments over the years.

It is one of the most watched TV events of the year, with 162 million people tuning in over the three live shows in 2023.

This year, viewers can expect to see Olly Alexander’s UK Eurovision entry as well as the current favourite to win, Switzerland’s Nemo, take to the stage in Sweden, where the contest is being held.

The competition is a very special date in the diary for dedicated fans – but some of them will not be tuning in this year.

Since Eurovision is refusing to ban Israel from the contest, given the ongoing war in Gaza, a lot of loyal viewers have decided to boycott the event.

But this is not the first time the contest has found itself in murky waters…

1. Israel’s lyric change (2024)

Israel’s Eurovision act, Eden Golan, was originally due to perform a song titled October Rain at the 2024 contest. However, the Israeli Eurovision team changed the lyrics and the title of the song following furious backlash.

The song – which has since been renamed Hurricane – was thought to reference the October Hamas attacks, with lyrics including ‘There’s no air left to breathe,’ and ‘They were all good children, each one of them’.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs Eurovision, maintains that the contest is non-political, and can disqualify entries that breach that rule.

After initially pledging not to amend the lyrics, Israeli broadcaster Kan eventually agreed to make changes to the song at the request of the country’s President, Isaac Herzog, so that Israel could still compete in this year’s contest.

But many are still unhappy with Israel’s inclusion, with more than 2,000 musicians in Finland, Iceland and Sweden signing separate open letters calling for Israel to be banned from the competition due to its ongoing war in Gaza.

Eden Golan will be representing Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 (Picture: Channel 12)

Elsewhere, 450 queer artists, individuals, and organisations signed an open letter asking UK act Olly Alexander to withdraw over the war.

Responding to the calls, Olly along with other entrants in this year’s contest shared a statement reading:

‘In light of the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in Gaza, and in Israel, we do not feel comfortable being silent. It is important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages.

‘We stand united against all forms of hate, including antisemitism and islamophobia.’

It continued: ‘We firmly believe in the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections.

‘We feel it is our duty to create and uphold this space, with a strong hope that it will inspire greater compassion and empathy.’

2. Maneskin vs the Green Room Table (2021)

Damiano David was the subject of false speculation suggesting he had been using drugs in the green room (Picture: YouTube)

Eurovision 2021’s winners Maneskin have gone on to great things since their victory at the contest in Rotterdam, shifting millions of albums, headlining sell-out world tours and even picking up a Grammy nomination along the way.

However, the Italian rock band’s triumph was marred after footage began spreading online of singer Damiano David bending towards the green room table during the voting on the night, leading many to speculate he was using cocaine.

Damiano vehemently denied the allegations, explaining he had bent down to examine a broken glass on the table – and later cleared his name of any wrongdoing after taking a voluntary blood test which returned negative.

The EBU confirmed this at the time, saying: ‘No drug use took place in the Green Room and we consider the matter closed.

‘We are alarmed that inaccurate speculation leading to fake news has overshadowed the spirit and the outcome of the event and unfairly affected the band.’

While Damiano understandably admitted at the time that he felt ‘really offended’ by the accusations, the band couldn’t help referencing it when they performed their track Supermodel at the 2022 contest in Turin.

Following their powerful performance, Damiano was asked to give that year’s contestants advice, to which he quipped: ‘Two things. Have fun and don’t get close to the table, guys.’

3. Belarus breaks the rules (2021)

While Eurovision 2021 has no shortage of participants, with 39 lining up to take part, one country that didn’t appear on the Rotterdam stage was Belarus.

Though they had planned to take part, revealing their song, Ya Nauchu Tebya, by Galasy ZMesta, they fell foul of the EBU after it transpired the song breached the rules banning lyrics of a political nature.

Controversial lines in the song included ‘I’ll teach you to toe the line’, which was believed to be mocking the country’s protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.

The band were given the chance to modify the lyrics or submit an alternative song, but the amended version was also deemed to be unsuitable, leading to them being disqualified from the contest, and depriving us of the chance to see whether they could have landed Belarus their first ever Eurovision victory.

4. Hatari’s Palestinian banners (2019)

Icelandic act Hatari had already created a bit of a splash at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv with their song Hatrid Mun Sigra, aka Hate Will Prevail – a shouty industrial anthem about as far removed from the contest’s big ballads and colourful dance bangers as it was possible to get.

Hatari’s protest resulted in a fine for the Icelandic broadcaster (Picture: BBC)

But they really caused a stir when, after their points from the public were awarded, the cameras turned to them in the green room holding up banners in support of Palestine.

While the band later admitted it was their ‘main reason’ for taking part in the contest, it was less popular with the EBU, who fined Iceland’s broadcasters €5,000 (£4,200) for breaking the contest’s no politics rule.

5. Ukraine withdraws (2019)

Ukraine’s national final in 2019 brought with it a serious contender in the shape of Maruv’s Siren Song – all sultry vocals and big party trumpets, accompanied by a seriously sexy dance routine.

Unsurprisingly, Maruv was a hot favourite for the ticket to Tel Aviv, and won their national final – only to be dropped by the local broadcaster after she refused to sign a contract temporarily barring her from playing in Russia.

Undeterred, broadcaster UA:PBC approached the runners-up to offer them the chance to represent Ukraine, but they refused too. When the second runners-up also said no, they were left with no choice but to pull out of the contest completely – leaving us all wondering what might have been if Maruv had had her moment on the Eurovision stage.

The song, meanwhile, lives on as a favourite at Eurovision parties, with many a fan taking to the floor quite literally in a bid to recreate those saucy moves.

6. Russia pulls out of Ukraine (2017)

Speaking of Ukraine, the country was involved in another controversial moment when the contest to Kiev in 2017, leaving everybody wondering whether Russia would take part, given the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

Sure enough, they decided they would, unexpectedly unveiling former Russian X Factor contestant Julia Samoylova as their entrant, with the song Flame Is Burning.

All appeared well, until it transpired that Julia had previously performed in Crimea – a big no-no as far as Ukraine was concerned, leading to her being banned from actually entering the country. All of which led to Russia ultimately pulling out of the contest altogether that year.

It wasn’t all bad news for Julia, who got her moment on the Eurovision stage when she represented Russia in Lisbon in 2018. Sadly, her song I Won’t Break failed to qualify for the semi-final, making her the only Russian participant to date to miss out on a final place.

7. Armenia vs Azerbaijan (2016)

As we’ve now learnt, political grandstanding is always frowned upon at Eurovision, and Armenia discovered this with a certain green room gesture back in 2016.

Singer Iveta Mukuchyan landed the nation in hot water during the first semi-final when she waved a flag of the hotly-disputed region Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been at the centre of an unresolved dispute with Azerbaijan for years.

Cue rapped knuckles all round, with Armenia being sanctioned by the EBU and warned they could be kicked out of the contest if they did it again. The Union said in a statement that the move represented a ‘serious breach’ of the rule stating that ‘no messages promoting any organisation, institution, political cause or other, company, brand, products or services shall be allowed in the shows’.

Iveta said at the time: ‘You don’t have to forget that I am representing my country in my heart, my thoughts my feelings and all my emotions. My thoughts are with my motherland and what I want to spread is peace on borders. I wrote this song because this was going on inside of me’.

But the controversy didn’t harm her chances at the contest too, much as she reached the final and finished seventh with a very respectable 249 points.

8. Romania gets the boot (2016)

Romania has been a stalwart of Eurovision since 1994, having participated in the show 22 times. And although they’re still waiting for that first victory, they’ve come close on a number of occasions, reaching the top three in 2005 and 2010.

However, things went horribly wrong for them back in 2016 when they were kicked out of the contest in Sweden just weeks before the show, after national broadcaster TVR failed to make payments to the EBU that dated as far back as 2007.

This couldn’t have been any worse for singer Ovidiu Anton, who had already been chosen to represent the country in Stockholm with his rock ballad Moment of Silence – and had even been busy promoting it on the pre-contest party circuit.

While it was thought at the time Romania might be gone for a while, it seems the dispute was settled as they returned to the Eurovision stage the following year, finishing seventh with the oddly memorable Yodel It!

9. Finland’s same-sex kiss (2013)

The 2013 contest in Malmo, Sweden, introduced us to Finland’s Krista Siegfrieds and her song Marry Me – with its ‘ding-dong’ heavy lyrics and Krista taking to the stage in a wedding dress.

Given the contest’s reputation for stage gimmicks and OTT outfits, this was textbook Eurovision – except Krista decided to shake things up thoroughly by kissing one of her female backing dancers during the performance as a protest against same-sex marriage not being legal in Finland at that time.

Cue ruffled feathers from the likes of Turkey, who scrapped plans to screen the semi-final and final (despite not taking part in the contest that year), and China, who censored the moment in question.

Not that any of the fuss made much difference to Finland’s final score, with Krista finishing a lowly 24th in the final with just 13 points.

10. Georgia takes aim at Putin (2009)

Speaking of political controversies, Georgia found themselves embroiled in one in 2009 with their attempt to send a disco number by band Stefane and 3G in the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian war.

The song, entitled We Don’t Wanna Put In, was hauled up by the EBU for its clearly political lyrics taking a pop at Russian president Vladimir Putin (read the title again if you want to see what we mean).

Georgia was given the chance to field an alternative song but chose to withdraw from the contest altogether that year, once again leaving us wondering what might have been if they’d taken part.

The song, however, is still widely available on YouTube for those who want to see what the fuss is all about.

11. Dustin The Turkey takes to the stage (2008)

Ireland is known for its spectacular record when it comes to Eurovision, having won the contest seven times – the same number as Sweden, meaning the two nations are neck-and-neck for the country that has won Eurovision the most times.

However, it’s been a long time since those halcyon days when the nation notched up four victories in the space of five years between 1992 and 1996.

And things took a bizarre turn in 2008 when, having finished last in the previous year’s final, the Irish public overwhelmingly voted to send children’s TV puppet star Dustin The Turkey to the contest in Belgrade.

We’re used to seeing Turkey compete in Eurovision, but not like this (Picture: Getty Images)

Dustin’s selection might have been a hit with viewers but it was less popular elsewhere – with former Irish winner Dana suggesting the country would be better pulling out of Eurovision altogether than sending the character.

There were even debates over whether the song, a parody entitled Irlande Douze Points, might breach contest rules – given that such lyrics about ‘drag acts and bad acts and Terry Wogan’s wig’ might bring the contest into disrepute.

Nonetheless, Dustin took to the stage in Belgrade – to a chorus of boos from the audience – and promptly crashed out at semi-final stage with just 22 points.

And despite making a respectable return to the left-hand side of the scoreboard with Jedward in 2011, Ireland are still waiting for that eighth victory.

12. Terry Wogan announces the wrong winner (2007)

This one wasn’t actually from the contest itself – but came as the United Kingdom was choosing its entrant for the 2007 contest in Helsinki.

Having been whittled down to the final two – Scooch’s saucy airline anthem Flying The Flag (For You), and balladeer Cyndi’s I’ll Leave My Heart, the late great Terry Wogan had the job of announcing which act had won the ticket to Finland.

Cue a moment of extreme awkwardness in which he announced Cyndi had won, with Scooch already congratulating her before co-host Fearne Cotton announced that Wogan had got it wrong and that they were in fact the winners.

Of course, given that Scooch ended up scoring just 19 points in the 2007 final – 12 of which came from Malta – we have been left to wonder to this day whether Cyndi might have done any better.

13. Silvia Night upsets everyone (2006)

The 2006 contest in Athens might have hit the headlines on account of Finland’s Lordi – the first act ever to win Eurovision with a rock song – but Iceland also grabbed their share of attention thanks to their act, the infamous Silvia Night.

Silvia – actually a character created by actress Agusta Eva Erlandsdottir – was aiming to nab the nation their first-ever contest win with her song Congratulations, a catchy little tune all about how she was bound to win because she was better than all the other contestants.

Unfortunately for all concerned, Erlandsdottir remained in character throughout her time in Athens and proceeded to upset a whole lot of people, from journalists covering the contest whom she referred to as ‘f*****g amateurs’ (even having her ‘bodyguard’ carry one of them out of her press conference) through to spreading scandalous rumours about Sweden’s contestant Carola. All of which led to her being booed as she took to the stage in the semi-final.

But she didn’t stop there, lashing out at Carola, Lordi and the Netherlands’ act Treble after her OTT performance failed to win her a place in the final.

She also took her frustrations out on the press, telling one journalist: ‘I will sue you, and I will sue the competition, and you will all go to jail!’ Oh dear.

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14. France or Sweden? (1991)

The 1991 contest in Rome is legendary for all the wrong reasons. There’s the fact the entire production moved from San Remo to the Italian capital at short notice on account of the war in Iraq, as well as chaotic voting which saw presenter Toto Cutugno looking lost and puzzled half the time.

However, the controversy really came when the whole thing ended in a dead heat between France’s Amina – whose song C’est Le Dernier Qui a Parlé Qui a Raison was regarded as one of the best in contest history – and Sweden’s Carola with her upbeat number Fångad Av En Stormvind.

Under normal circumstances, the act which had the most ‘douze points’ votes would take the title. But when it turned out both countries had equal numbers of those too – having received four apiece – the outcome was eventually decided on the number of 10 points receved by each.

With five to Amina’s two, Carola was declared the winner and the contest went to Sweden in 1992 – denying France their first win since 1977.

15. Israel’s first – and third – wins (1978/1998)

Israel has notched up four Eurovision victories since it began taking part – but those haven’t come without controversy of their own.

Back in 1978, when it became apparent that Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta were on course to take the title with A-Ba-Ni-Bi, Jordanian television promptly pulled the broadcast, instead showing viewers footage of a bunch of daffodils before later announcing that second-placed Belgium had actually won the contest.

Fast forward 20 years later to the contest in Birmingham where Dana International – Israel’s 1998 participant and Eurovision’s first ever transgender winner – caused so much controversy among more conservative religious groups back in Israel that she needed to have police escorts and security on hand during her time in the UK at the contest.

16. Belgium’s winner (1986)

Despite being one of the longest-ever participants in Eurovision, Belgium has only ever won the contest once, with Sandra Kim’s J’Aime La Vie back in 1986. But the act caused a minor stir after it was revealed Sandra was in fact just 13 years old, not 16 as had been reported at the time.

Switzerland, who had finished second, subsequently petitioned to have the song disqualified. But they were unsuccessful and, to this date, Sandra remains the youngest ever contest winner.

She will likely remain so given that the minimum age for taking part has since been raised to 16.

17. Portugal incites revolution (1974)

Portugal’s entry at the 1974 contest, the ballad E Depois do Adeus by Paulo de Carvalho, didn’t make much impact on the actual scoreboard, scoring just three points to finish joint last.

Nonetheless, it still achieved notoriety, after it was revealed as one of two signals to start the country’s Carnation Revolution, against Marcelo Caetano’s authoritarian Estado Novo regime – a coup which later led to the country becoming a democracy.

To date, it remains the only Eurovision entry ever to start a revolution – that we know of, at least.

The Eurovision Grand Final takes place on Saturday 11 May.

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