Eurovision's craziest controversies

The 2023 Grand Final takes place this Saturday in Liverpool!

Stars Insider

11/05/23 | StarsInsider

MUSIC Controversy

The ceremony is intended to be apolitical, but Europe's relations are always exposed on the Eurovision stage. Allied countries vote for each other, rival countries give the cold shoulder, and some subliminal messages always seem to slip in to someone's lyrics.  The buzz around 2019's Eurovision Song Contest was about Iceland waving Palestinian flags during the live broadcast filmed in the host city of Tel Aviv. Then 2020, though ultimately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, saw Hungary pull out of the competition citing no official reason (though it was widely suspected that it was due to the country's far-right government and media viewing Eurovision as 'too LGBT-friendly'). In 2022, Russia was officially banned from competing in the wake of the country's continued military assault against Ukraine. Ukraine went on to win that year but couldn't host the 2023 contest due to the ongoing war. For the first time in Eurovision history, another country had to take over hosting duties on the winner's behalf, and this year's spectacle is taking place in Liverpool in the UK. 

So far this year, there have been rumors of an apparent fix surrounding Poland's entry, Blanka. The competition to represent Poland was hosted by the national broadcaster  TVP.  Blanka made it into the final two, going up against another artist named Jann. Polish viewers voted, and believed that Jann had received an overwhelming majority, yet Blanka was announced the winner. The jury was accused of reducing Jann's score after it was discovered that at least two members had personal connections to Blanka. More than 87,000 members of the public petitioned TVP to change the representative while Polish media outlets criticized their lack of transparency with the voting results. TVP refused to allow an independent committee to review the voting and claimed that they had complied with all the necessary regulations. 

Controversy is a well-documented part of Eurovision's history. Intrigued? Then click on to to read about the most delicious drama at the Eurovision Song Contest.

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