The UK’s Eurovision Song Contest representative has addressed fans’ “extreme” comments about Israel’s inclusion in the competition.
Olly Alexander was selected as this year’s UK representative for the popular singing competition.
It is scheduled to take place in Malmo, Sweden, next week, but tens of thousands of people are expected to protest Israel’s involvement and its ongoing war in Gaza.
Alexander, the Years & Years singer, has faced criticism from some who called for him to retire amid the current War between Israel and Hamas..
Queers for Palestine circulated a letter, signed by thousands, including actors Indya Moore, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Maxine Peake, calling for the It’s A Sin actor to leave the show.
In March, along with Irish hopeful Bambie Thug, Danish entrant Saba and other Eurovision artists, Alexander issued a joint statement, endorsing “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” but refusing to boycott the event.
Now speaking in a new documentary which followed the 33-year-old as he prepares for the show, he described some of the comments he and other contestants faced as “very extreme”.
Bambie Thug, the Irish entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, who also signed a statement supporting an immediate ceasefire, but refuses to boycott the event. Photo: dad
He said: “A lot of the contestants and I have received a lot of comments like ‘You’re complicit in genocide by participating in Eurovision’, which is quite extreme. It’s very extreme.
“I understand where that feeling comes from, but I don’t think it’s right.
“It’s an incredibly complicated political situation, which I’m not qualified to talk about.
“The backdrop to this is immense suffering. It is a humanitarian crisis, a war.
“It just so happens that there’s a song contest going on at the same time that I’m a part of.”
Speaking in the BBC documentary titled Olly Alexander’s Road To Eurovision ’24, he went on to say that people should boycott Eurovision if they didn’t feel comfortable watching it and he respected their decision, but that he would take part himself.
He added: “My plan is to focus solely on putting in a good performance in Malmo.
“My team, everyone has worked very hard and now we are in the final stretch.”
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Earlier in the week, Alexander broke down in tears during an interview with The Times when talking about the pressure he had suffered from participating in Eurovision.
He told the newspaper that he knew several signatories of the petition against him and that none had contacted him.
He said: “This is so much bigger than Eurovision and I, it really is. But obviously I wish there wasn’t a war or this crazy humanitarian crisis.”
“I want peace and I have found this experience, at times, extremely… I have felt really sad and distressed.”
Photo: PA
Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning program with Trevor Phillips, the deputy director general of the European Broadcasting Union that organizes Eurovision, Jean Philip De Tender, defended Israel’s inclusion in the competition.
He said: “We understand the deeply held concerns and views surrounding the war in the Middle East.
“The song contest is a musical event organized and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, it is not a competition between nations or governments.
“Our governing bodies reviewed Kan’s (Israel’s public broadcasting corporation) participation and found that they were in compliance with all competing rules.”
Phillips pointed to incidents in which Kan was criticized for his broadcast.
This included, he said, when Kan posted a video of children chanting, in the public broadcaster’s own words, for the “annihilation of Gaza” and when one of its hosts was seen writing “I want to send artillery shells to the people of Gaza.” Loop”. .
De Tender said they had been in contact with Kan about the content they published and their editorial output, and had expressed concern at times.
He added that Eurovision had competition rules they had to follow, and taking steps beyond these rules to exclude Kan would have been a “political decision as such that we cannot make”.