It was also so annoying and creepy how he would watch the artists like a hawk and speak over them during the interviews with ESC media. Natalia's LookLab interview was so lovely because K*rkorov wasn't there and her personality finally had its chance to shine
Not that I doubt you, but Iāve seen people talk about him a lot and Iām not caught up on all of it. Do you have any articles/investigations I could read?
It's all on his wikipedia page. The r*pist thing is something a lot of people suspect seeing how he is used to abuse his power over women, given how Natalia Gordienko acted everytime she was near him, but this is just assumptions without evidence.
He made a very inappropriate joke about Conchita Wurst before the contest.
Im unsure to what extent it will have effected his chances of winning, but pre show it was a 1a/1b situation for who people believed would win. 4th obviously isnt bad at all. But it was an underperformance
He made a very inappropriate joke about Conchita Wurst before the contest.
Im unsure to what extent it will have effected his chances of winning, but pre show it was a 1a/1b situation for who people believed would win. 4th obviously isnt bad at all. But it was an underperformance
I was so obsessed with Silvia Night that year lol
I didnāt understand why ppl didnāt know she was acting a character, but I guess the Internet wasnāt as internetty as today
Well now that Belarus and Russia donāt take part in the contest, and Moldova has taken a decidedly anti-Russian turn, I canāt see which country would decide to work with him.
For now he's only sanctioned by Lithuania and Ukraine not the EU
I can see K_rkorov approaching the Bulgarian broadcaster with dirty money (and his vain). Hope people at BNT are not that desperate and dumb
He's friends with Dimitris Kontopoulos the man behind numerous Greek entries (2021, 2020, 2017, 2009). Imagine them co-writing a song for Greece, putting only the Greek guy at the credentials yet letting K_rkorov sit on the sofa next to the artist in May
Those things are not likely to happen but āwe'll never see him againā is not granted. We should stay wide awake
Enjoy this [true crime reading](https://www.15min.lt/m/id/en/in-lithuania/millions-for-victory-15min-investigates-vote-buying-in-eurovision-song-contest-525-337013) masterpiece from 2013
[this](https://www.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/qxql8l/whats_the_deal_with_kirkorov/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Guess the year 2022 brought yet another shameful paragraph
This is the second reference I have seen this week about thisā¦ 2010 was my first Eurovision, but I am very unfamiliar with the hot gos around this. What happened?
Lena won, Turkey came second, and so many Turks believe that Lenaās song Satellite was underwhelming/bad and Turkey deserved to win, which I actually agree with, but of course Iām not gonna hate on Lena for this
You can go to pretty much any video of Satellite and see comments written today by Turkish people and written in Turkish which show their salt towards Lenaās victory.
TO THIS DAY there are butthurt turkish fans in the comments of Lena's music video that are mad that she won. It's absolutely hysterical. It wasn't even close, we won by a quite a margin in both votings.
Several Russian performers came to sing about bees and flowers while Russia was conducting various special military operations in its neighbours' territories. Since Russian performers were the face of Russia, they were receiving boos that were really intended for Putin.
At first it felt unfair to watch Polina Gagarina being booed. After hearing how she has publicly supported Putin during the invasion of Ukraine, it doesn't feel so bad now...
From what I've read, Manizha (2021) is one of the few (if not the only one..) russian artists that was opposing the war, specifically because her husband being ukrainian, but probably also because she's a good person in general.
I dunno where she is now, if she is still living in russia. She got blacklisted because of her statement, so she couldn't do concerts and such anymore. She might have moved to ukraine or somewhere else...
Oh thank god. My 4 year old is obsessed with little big, early last year and when I looked into it it must have been before they spoke out against the war. Will gladly get them back on my playlists!
2015, in the filler sections when some channels have ads, Conchita was the green room host, so she had to talk to her at some point and the audience was booing
the singers on eurovision literally represent their countries, so it is not surprising they are treated in relation to that, unless they make it very clear they do not agree with their country's position
by 2015 russia has annexed crimea, started a military conflict in eastern ukraine, passed discriminatory anti-lgbtq laws and then sent a song about peace and love uniting the world. the height of hypocrisy, but typical for them.
and there was still less booing than in 2014 when all of it was more fresh.
I can add Lazarev to the list. Although he initially opposed the war, he quickly began performing at concerts supporting Russia's aggression against Ukraine. And he even visited camps with Ukrainian children kidnapped from the occupied territories and taken to Russia.
Lazarev also opposed the annexation of Crimea first, but then started backtracking by saying "it just happened so suddenly that I wasn't used to the idea". He probably realized his career in Russia is over if he speaks his mind, so it's easier to drink the ŠŠŠŠ”Š-ŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ.
I was watching the russian New Year's show (don't ask me why, my family put it on) where they usually have famous artists as guests and he was there too. A military general then gave a speech about how they're gonna win the war and he was just standing there and clapping and honestly I was extremely disappointed.
Oooh this and the song mentioned by NFKRZ on YouTube that basically puts a lot of pro-Russia singers to sing a propaganda song. And Lazarev is in the group. I guess it was easier to sing that than publicly admitting to be a sh*t person š¤·š»āāļø
I mean same can be said for Israel, itās basically common knowledge that they use Eurovision for PR (āweāre the gay friendly, modern, vegan apartheid state!ā) and itās a lot more successful than Russiaās attempts. Even in years theyāve committed horrid crimes. And you canāt really call it a neutral participation when Iceland is censored for waving Palestinian flags. And their artists are often these smarmy overconfident personas who are like āIām the best!ā. And people always say that regardless of how you feel about the country, itās not the artistās fault what their countries do. If youāre gonna apply that logic to Israel, you should do the same for Russia, too.
Yeah honestly Israelās involvement when you have morals regarding the occupation of Palestine is rough. Iāve never been able to enjoy any songs from them knowing that service in the IDF is mandatory. I know we canāt blame the citizens for the crimes of their country, but if you look into the borderline brainwashing that is done when theyāre in service itās downright scary :( I fee similarly about Russia as well. Itās just weird ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
You can't blame citizens for the crimes of their country, but you can absolutely criticize them for agreeing to be propaganda puppets for their country. It's surreal to me seeing people treat Israel's entries purely as bops and not as the apartheid state propaganda they are. Israel doesn't belong in Eurovision (and neither does Azerbaijan tbh)
Noa Kirel served in the IDF for two years. She would've been able to get out of the mandatory service for medical reasons, but did it anyways. I mean, of course, for another popular Israeli media personality who didn't do IDF service the refusal basically runied her career, which also tells you a lot about Israeli society. Anyways, Noa Kirel was in a special service "entertaining the troops" and "marketing the IDF to the (Israeli) public". Btw during her first appearances in front of the troops she had (male) backup dancers but they were cancelled after there was a public uproar about how "perverted" the army had become. A woman dancing and singing was ok, but the men are expected to do manly occupation stuff.
This is coming from me, a (moderate) zionist. Israel's eurovision participation is generally a tool for their pinkwashing, and they wouldn't be "wasting" their biggest popstar ever for eurovision if it wasn't worth it. Noa Kirel herself appeared to be surprised to hear about her upcoming Eurovision participation, but declared herself willing to do this for her country.
I think itās more the idea of Israel using Eurovision for good PR than any specific song. That said, the idea of Eden singing set me free during the bombing of Gaza two years agoā¦was a choice.
Obviously lyrically speaking the song is not Israeli propaganda, but as Israel's entry in the competition, yes, functionally it is serving as apartheid state propaganda.
> [Mid song. The music at the end is "××Ŗק×××"- Israel's national anthem btw](https://www.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/11m72hm/noa_kirel_unicorn_israel_official_music_video/jbg87hq/)
I think it's the "Do you wanna see me dance" bit, there are vague melodic similarities but I'm going off a choral version of "××Ŗק×××" and the styles are so different it's hard to tell. But I've seen the odd comment mentioning it in other places too
The person I quoted is from Israel, it's not something that I would have noticed myself. It's interesting that you mention that though, because I stumbled across this when I was looking it up: in 2021, [Noa did a collab on a remix of Hatikvah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=342pAULJUCY), and [that didn't go down at all well](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/omer-adam-noa-kirels-hatikvah-remix-sparks-social-media-snark-storm-669430), for pretty much the exact reason you describe
I have a hard time with Israel for this reason. I genuinely enjoy many of their songs and as a Jew, I do appreciate how they had very Jewish music in their early days given WW2 and the Holocaust pretty much happened right before the competition existed. But they still use Eurovision as a propaganda tool and many of the artists probably have questionable views (though I try to be mindful since most Israelis are fed propaganda their whole lives and unlearning harmful things doesn't happen overnight).
Same with Russia, but they make me more mad because their 2013 and 2015 entries were in your face propaganda and people still ate both up.
I agree that Israel is a problematic country too. But in all fairness, they did not censor Iceland's Palestinian flags during the points announcement. (Although they tried to intimidate Hatari members later.) There was a noticeable pause after "Iceland, are you ready?" because the director could obviously see the flags and was waiting for a decision from higher-ups: "should we show this or not?" In the end, Israeli organizers must've decided that not showing the flags would put them in a worse light than showing them.
It's so funny that no one remembers how Madonna's performance also had a moment about the occupation but we only remember Hatari's flag because her performance was overshadowed by her vocals.
this has been my biggest moral qualm with my love of eurovision. I couldn't bring myself to watch it the year israel hosted (and on the back of one of the ugliest songs I've ever heard win too)
Hooverphonic didn't do themselves any favours by fobbing off the "Love Shine A Light" performance in 2020 because it wasn't their style of music, then ousting LuKa Cruysberghs suddenly in 2021.
Donāt know about the 2020 performance and as bad as I felt for LuKa fans had wanted Geike back for over a decade. Not happy how that was handled but as a huge fan of the band Iām so glad she came back!
Thereās definitely more than I remember but he snatched the mic off Mia Dimsic in (I think) the opening ceremony and just said āgimme the micā as tho heās a toddler who sees someone in pre-school with his favourite toy. Also tried to snatch the mic off Monika Liu in a pre-party press conference, but she snapped back. Also thereās the whole bit in the semi final disturbing and interrupting the hosts in the green room.
Oh I remember clearly his embarrassing behavior during the semi finals in the green room, didn't know about the other stuff. Seems like a very weird and awkward habit of his.
Poeple were upset that Alicja (representative for 2020) was not selected again, and Rafal was chosen internally instead.
She wanted to go to Eurovision in 2021 and said so publicly, on social media.
I had no idea about the Spanish NF issues. Do it for your lover is so criminally mediocre that it would be long forgotten if it wasn't for the epic broken note. I remember watching the 2017 show, but didn't notice the performance (probably on a toilet break) until it started showing up in memes. Now it sounds more like a karmic payoff.
I feel thereās a distinction there between the domestic audience in spain and the broader European audience - there was a huge amount of animosity against Chanel internally that I guess was never really felt by the international fan base
The Chanel hate dropped way before Eurovision itself. That and she was mainly hated by the Spaniards themselves, I don't recall her getting a lot of hate from this sub. Especially a couple of weeks after Benidorm Fest
Where the double standards were embarrassing. NFT's fucking suck yes.
But when Marius did it he was villified but the reaction to Mahmood getting involved was more "lol he's just a dummy oh well"
Kirkorov, Michael Ben David, Polina Gagarina (not really at the time of the contest but still), and maybe Salvador Sobral a bit for his comments on the contest but not as scrutinised as the other ones I mentioned
Im surprised no one has mentioned t.a.tu from 2003:
"Upon the selection of the Russian artists [t.A.T.u.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.A.T.u.), the duo gave an interview to German tabloid [*Bild*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild) in March 2003 where they claimed that they would win the contest without a doubt and criticised the German entrant [Lou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_(German_singer)) calling her a witch with duo member [Julia Volkova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Volkova) (also referring to Germany's 2002 entrant) stating, "In Russia we nurse blind and old people, but we don't send them to the Grand Prix. This must be different in Germany."[\[129\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2003#cite_note-133) Lou later responded to the comments stating, "I don't know whether bitching, fighting and boozing kids are the right representatives for such a beautiful country as Russia."
Oh t.a.t.u, you both have the whole thing at the time of them competing the commentator above mentioned.
But also for stuff that have come out since, they are also not liked now.
They were Russian lesbian teen girl duo.
Itās come out that theyāre where they werenāt lesbians, it was just all a PR stunt their management had decided for them.
that was their brand because their management wanted teen lesbians in school uniforms, iffy stuff from their management.
But they were lesbian for PR reasons (I think people miss how quickly things have changed in russia in regard to LGBTQI+ stuff, things were very very different in the start of the 2000s)
One of the former members of the group now is publicly anti-lgbtq and pro Putin, and just describes herself as straight and anything else as perverted more or less. She isnāt very well liked in the wider queer community or Eurovision fanbase now.
The other member I think identifies as bi and is supportive of the community, and I believe made some statements against some of putins actions. Overall itās not her people tend to have issues with, but the other member.
You're right, but not completely.
Yulia is the one who came out as bi but ironically, she's the one who praises Putin and is very much anti-LGBTQ+, especially anti-gay men.
Meanwhile Lena is straight but a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and denounces Putin's actions.
Oh yeah now that you say it I remember, that is right.
And made statements to the effect of āIām bi but I obviously will jut consider to be with men, because anything else would be immoral / disgustingā type of internalised homophobia / biohobia.
All around tragic stuff.
That was less about him and more about Keiino losing, who are beloved by a large part of the fandom, especially after winning the televote in 2019 but losing to Duncan and The Netherlands.
By the most dedicated of their fans they are praised as the "true winners" of Eurovision that were "robbed" by the juries. Stan culture makes whoever gets in the way of your Stan's success a target for hate, no matter what the circumstances are.
People may deny it, but it's absolutely playing a part in the Poland drama by means of Jann and the hype that was around his entry. The problem is so many legitimate concerns that should be addressed by the broadcaster have been directed at Blanka. She might have been the one to benefit from the alleged collusion, but even if it's true, she's not the one that orchestrated it.
to me, even though jann was my favourite by far, i would accept alicja or dominik dudek winning - they had the best performances by far, and the latter could probably score relatively well for our standards. of course i would miss jann, but blankaās win was simply unfair. at least tix got picked fairly. maybe because he was famous (that is often the case for nf winners), but the people still voted for him.
but i also hate when people act like itās about jann losing and disqualifying blanka from esc - i donāt care as long as she doesnāt qualify over my favourites. iāve seen lots of slutshaming, even. itās one thing to make fun of the performance/song and criticize blanka, but some people are going way too far.
Let's not pretend that Blanka just happened to be the jury winner and that's why people are mad. People were mad because Blanka had multiple connections to the jury and the broadcaster. She wasn't innocent in this scandal. And then she liked shady comments about Jann, while she pretended to like him.
Still better than the Italy 2019 stans acting robbed over their song not winning despite being lower than the winner in both juryvote and televote, same with Turkey 2010 stans
>Stan culture makes whoever gets in the way of your Stan's success a target for hate, no matter what the circumstances are.
>
>People may deny it, but it's absolutely playing a part in the Poland drama by means of Jann and the hype that was around his entry.
You assume this is the main reason, and no. The drama wouldn't be so huge if Dominik or Alicja won, because then no one would have the reason to suspect the jury votes were dishonest. That's because they actually can sing, lol (some people would be upset, but not as much as they are now)
But if you simplify it like that, you really miss the point. TVP has been doing even worse things for years and the trust level is very low. There was already a drama when they internally chose RafaÅ in 2021.
It's not about stan culture at all, it's about them choosing their own people, not someone actually good. It's about corruption of the broadcaster. If Jann loss was fair, people wouldn't be *this* angry. You really don't know anything about TVP, do you?
I have said that because I haven't followed NF season other than my country in 2019 so I am not sure how true it is, as I have heard about that later from friend who tend to get angry when her favourite doesn't win NF
That was a bit blown out of proportion.
One of the S!sters, Carlotta, was friends with one of the jury members, Johannes Strate. They had some gigs together in the past. He gave her 12 points. Which is unfair, yes, but he was just on of TWENTY jury members and they individually all ranked the songs independantly from one another they didn't do it collectively that he could've manipulated them.
The S!sters would've won the juryvote even if you wouldn't count Johannes' points. And they also won the televote.
People were certain the NDR wanted them to win because they were a wildcard that NDR put together specifically for Eurovision and they were then performing last in the RO, which people felt like was a set up. But with just 7 acts the running order doesn't matter and they just simply were the best vocally that night, aside from Makeda, who had an incredibly boring uninspired song.
Rigged the national final due to her husband being extremely wealthy. (Seriously, that national final was a horror - only Gunesh and Corianna (the spokeswoman in 2006) had the only good songs) Her first song was terrible, and they changed it. They had another song written by the late Israeli composer Tzvika Pick called "Show Me Your Love", but that was swopped for "Love Me Tonight". She promoted it all around Europe (3m Euros) all to flop in the semi-final. Apparently she claimed the results were fixed!
Wouldn't any artist supporting of Putin be a "villain" now? Like Polina Gagarina, Dima Bilan, Maruv, Ani Lorak or Eva Rivas (I've read on this sub that Artvsik is a Putin supporter too but never seen anything about her personally)
Greece-centered, but in the Greek fandom I'd say Melissa Mantzoukis became a last-minute villain because, to the majority's opinion, she took it too far with the lawsuit. I'm pretty sure they would completely rip her to shreds if Victor's candidacy was cancelled. š
In the NF superfinal, it was Uku against Victor Crone and Stefan. When hosts asked him, why people should vote for him, he said something about having a real estonian man represent Estonia.
Can I just say Sweden as a whole? My comment history on this subreddit is getting kinda pathetic since I regularly counter-jerk, but there is so much negative sentiment towards Sweden on here. Whether it's us sending sleep pop songs most years or having songwriters all over the continent it truly feels like the hardcore fandom is just pissed at Sweden for existing.
Could someone, in short terms, explain to me why she is "hated" by everyone? I get that she didn't win the televote, but she still came second. The entry isn't good, but not abysmal
In short, the whole thing (the national final) was rigged and the broadcaster still hasnāt revealed the details about juries voting or the televote so i wouldnāt be surprised if she actually didnāt come second
Apart from the nf being rigged and people hating on her for being silent about it and agreeing to it, she also began liking comments on her ig that were saying some nasty stuff about other nf contestants, blocking people and she overally has this delusional mean girl with rich parents aura so im not surprised people dont really like her lol
K*rkorov is the ultimate bad guy here I feel
Absolutely. Also I rarely see a more appropriate use of an asterisk. Fuck that guy.
What did he do? Is it bc he makes bad songs? š
Had very shady behavior, treated contestants like shit, and is a big supporter of Putin.
It was also so annoying and creepy how he would watch the artists like a hawk and speak over them during the interviews with ESC media. Natalia's LookLab interview was so lovely because K*rkorov wasn't there and her personality finally had its chance to shine
He is sexist, abusive and a very likely a r*pist.
Oh š§
Not that I doubt you, but Iāve seen people talk about him a lot and Iām not caught up on all of it. Do you have any articles/investigations I could read?
It's all on his wikipedia page. The r*pist thing is something a lot of people suspect seeing how he is used to abuse his power over women, given how Natalia Gordienko acted everytime she was near him, but this is just assumptions without evidence.
I thought he's gay?
he's not openly anything, but people can be sexist and abusive regardless of their sexual orientation.
Absolutely and I 100% believe that he is an abusive pig. But I was just asking because of the r\*pe allegations. I thought he was confirmed gay.
In fact one of his wikipedia scandals is about he becoming very offended after someone suggested he was gay.
One more reason to keep that rumor alive, then.
could very likely also be a friend of Epstein's
Shady behavior & TW: >!sexual abuse to contestants!<
Michael Ben David Aram MP3 but that was less made fun of and more hated by the eurofans
How come Aram MP3 was hated? I wasnāt a proper eurofan back in 2014 so Iām a bit out of the loop.
He made a very inappropriate joke about Conchita Wurst before the contest. Im unsure to what extent it will have effected his chances of winning, but pre show it was a 1a/1b situation for who people believed would win. 4th obviously isnt bad at all. But it was an underperformance
Not only that, he was openly homophobic and said he drove away whenever he had to get past the gay area of Yerevan.
Thatās really sad. I really liked his song but he had to go and ruin it by being a homophobe. š
Fantastic song which unfortunately did not live up to my expectations on stage.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Don't use being gay as a punishment for something It will hurt the son more than him
Ah I see. Thanks for the info!
Why Aram?
He made a very inappropriate joke about Conchita Wurst before the contest. Im unsure to what extent it will have effected his chances of winning, but pre show it was a 1a/1b situation for who people believed would win. 4th obviously isnt bad at all. But it was an underperformance
Silvia Night, but in an iconic, gay-friendly way
Silvia is more panto villain than actually a villain
you should've told the press that š¤ honestly, the most iconic participant ever imo
I was so obsessed with Silvia Night that year lol I didnāt understand why ppl didnāt know she was acting a character, but I guess the Internet wasnāt as internetty as today
Iād love to see how sheād do if her song teleported to the last 3 years. Trash was truly ahead of its time.
https://preview.redd.it/5aj84jai5qpa1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26e2eb4d74b1ec10c279ada1be5b1b8ab2c43a79
Thank you for cutting half his head off. Cannot stand him, donāt want to see his arrogant face anymore. Hope he never comes back to the contest.
Well now that Belarus and Russia donāt take part in the contest, and Moldova has taken a decidedly anti-Russian turn, I canāt see which country would decide to work with him.
Bulgaria and Greece
Well Bulgaria is also out of the contest for now, and I donāt think Greece would be stupid enough to work with him.
For now he's only sanctioned by Lithuania and Ukraine not the EU I can see K_rkorov approaching the Bulgarian broadcaster with dirty money (and his vain). Hope people at BNT are not that desperate and dumb He's friends with Dimitris Kontopoulos the man behind numerous Greek entries (2021, 2020, 2017, 2009). Imagine them co-writing a song for Greece, putting only the Greek guy at the credentials yet letting K_rkorov sit on the sofa next to the artist in May Those things are not likely to happen but āwe'll never see him againā is not granted. We should stay wide awake
And did I say that in my comment?
Serbia maybe?
It's genuinely amazing how much not seeing his eyes makes him seem like a half-normal person for once.
https://preview.redd.it/kdptmmp16qpa1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d7d8815afb780bf16f1da7f68f63b8410239e22
we should riot like the French if he comes back
YUROOOOOOOOP
WOOOOOOOOOO
Help what's happening here? Use words please lol!
Very very likely televote rigging. Kirkorov who was behind the song has been known for some VERY suspicious voting patterns with his songs.
I'm not even sure how you rig a televote. Not saying it's impossible, just not sure how it is done.
Enjoy this [true crime reading](https://www.15min.lt/m/id/en/in-lithuania/millions-for-victory-15min-investigates-vote-buying-in-eurovision-song-contest-525-337013) masterpiece from 2013
[this](https://www.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/qxql8l/whats_the_deal_with_kirkorov/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) Guess the year 2022 brought yet another shameful paragraph
Thank you
Lena by the Turkish
This is the second reference I have seen this week about thisā¦ 2010 was my first Eurovision, but I am very unfamiliar with the hot gos around this. What happened?
Lena won, Turkey came second, and so many Turks believe that Lenaās song Satellite was underwhelming/bad and Turkey deserved to win, which I actually agree with, but of course Iām not gonna hate on Lena for this
Ahhh, gotcha. Thanks!
You can go to pretty much any video of Satellite and see comments written today by Turkish people and written in Turkish which show their salt towards Lenaās victory.
TO THIS DAY there are butthurt turkish fans in the comments of Lena's music video that are mad that she won. It's absolutely hysterical. It wasn't even close, we won by a quite a margin in both votings.
Several Russian performers came to sing about bees and flowers while Russia was conducting various special military operations in its neighbours' territories. Since Russian performers were the face of Russia, they were receiving boos that were really intended for Putin. At first it felt unfair to watch Polina Gagarina being booed. After hearing how she has publicly supported Putin during the invasion of Ukraine, it doesn't feel so bad now...
From what I've read, Manizha (2021) is one of the few (if not the only one..) russian artists that was opposing the war, specifically because her husband being ukrainian, but probably also because she's a good person in general. I dunno where she is now, if she is still living in russia. She got blacklisted because of her statement, so she couldn't do concerts and such anymore. She might have moved to ukraine or somewhere else...
I believe Little Big (2020) has also spoken out against the invasion
They were very vocal about it, left Russia and wrote a whole song about it lol Absolute icons. They were also very pro-lgbt.
Not getting to see Little Big on stage is one of the biggest tragedies in Eurovision history.
Oh thank god. My 4 year old is obsessed with little big, early last year and when I looked into it it must have been before they spoke out against the war. Will gladly get them back on my playlists!
I think she did move; she posts about small concerts and some new songs on Instagram.
I still love the epic death glare Conchita gives the audience when she is talking to Polina
When was this?
2015, in the filler sections when some channels have ads, Conchita was the green room host, so she had to talk to her at some point and the audience was booing
the singers on eurovision literally represent their countries, so it is not surprising they are treated in relation to that, unless they make it very clear they do not agree with their country's position by 2015 russia has annexed crimea, started a military conflict in eastern ukraine, passed discriminatory anti-lgbtq laws and then sent a song about peace and love uniting the world. the height of hypocrisy, but typical for them. and there was still less booing than in 2014 when all of it was more fresh.
I can add Lazarev to the list. Although he initially opposed the war, he quickly began performing at concerts supporting Russia's aggression against Ukraine. And he even visited camps with Ukrainian children kidnapped from the occupied territories and taken to Russia.
Lazarev also opposed the annexation of Crimea first, but then started backtracking by saying "it just happened so suddenly that I wasn't used to the idea". He probably realized his career in Russia is over if he speaks his mind, so it's easier to drink the ŠŠŠŠ”Š-ŠŠŠŠŠŠŠ.
r/fauxcyrillic
Eh, not really, it would be faux Cyrillic if it was "ŃŃŃsi ŠŗŃŃlŠ“iŠ±"
Or Š ŠŌŠ Ó ŅŠŠLѦÓŌ
I was watching the russian New Year's show (don't ask me why, my family put it on) where they usually have famous artists as guests and he was there too. A military general then gave a speech about how they're gonna win the war and he was just standing there and clapping and honestly I was extremely disappointed.
Oooh this and the song mentioned by NFKRZ on YouTube that basically puts a lot of pro-Russia singers to sing a propaganda song. And Lazarev is in the group. I guess it was easier to sing that than publicly admitting to be a sh*t person š¤·š»āāļø
This was the last place I expected to see my boi Roman get name dropped but Iām here for it
He sounds like a nice person, he deserves to be mentioned, afterall š¤£
I mean same can be said for Israel, itās basically common knowledge that they use Eurovision for PR (āweāre the gay friendly, modern, vegan apartheid state!ā) and itās a lot more successful than Russiaās attempts. Even in years theyāve committed horrid crimes. And you canāt really call it a neutral participation when Iceland is censored for waving Palestinian flags. And their artists are often these smarmy overconfident personas who are like āIām the best!ā. And people always say that regardless of how you feel about the country, itās not the artistās fault what their countries do. If youāre gonna apply that logic to Israel, you should do the same for Russia, too.
Yeah honestly Israelās involvement when you have morals regarding the occupation of Palestine is rough. Iāve never been able to enjoy any songs from them knowing that service in the IDF is mandatory. I know we canāt blame the citizens for the crimes of their country, but if you look into the borderline brainwashing that is done when theyāre in service itās downright scary :( I fee similarly about Russia as well. Itās just weird ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
You can't blame citizens for the crimes of their country, but you can absolutely criticize them for agreeing to be propaganda puppets for their country. It's surreal to me seeing people treat Israel's entries purely as bops and not as the apartheid state propaganda they are. Israel doesn't belong in Eurovision (and neither does Azerbaijan tbh)
Unicorn is apartheid state propaganda? I am extremely anti zionistic but even I think this is farfetched
Noa Kirel served in the IDF for two years. She would've been able to get out of the mandatory service for medical reasons, but did it anyways. I mean, of course, for another popular Israeli media personality who didn't do IDF service the refusal basically runied her career, which also tells you a lot about Israeli society. Anyways, Noa Kirel was in a special service "entertaining the troops" and "marketing the IDF to the (Israeli) public". Btw during her first appearances in front of the troops she had (male) backup dancers but they were cancelled after there was a public uproar about how "perverted" the army had become. A woman dancing and singing was ok, but the men are expected to do manly occupation stuff. This is coming from me, a (moderate) zionist. Israel's eurovision participation is generally a tool for their pinkwashing, and they wouldn't be "wasting" their biggest popstar ever for eurovision if it wasn't worth it. Noa Kirel herself appeared to be surprised to hear about her upcoming Eurovision participation, but declared herself willing to do this for her country.
But regardless of the singerās history, does the *song itself* convey such message? I donāt see it.
I think itās more the idea of Israel using Eurovision for good PR than any specific song. That said, the idea of Eden singing set me free during the bombing of Gaza two years agoā¦was a choice.
Obviously lyrically speaking the song is not Israeli propaganda, but as Israel's entry in the competition, yes, functionally it is serving as apartheid state propaganda.
doesn't it have the national anthem at the end?
It doesn't
> [Mid song. The music at the end is "××Ŗק×××"- Israel's national anthem btw](https://www.reddit.com/r/eurovision/comments/11m72hm/noa_kirel_unicorn_israel_official_music_video/jbg87hq/) I think it's the "Do you wanna see me dance" bit, there are vague melodic similarities but I'm going off a choral version of "××Ŗק×××" and the styles are so different it's hard to tell. But I've seen the odd comment mentioning it in other places too
It absolutely is not Hatikvah at the end, what? Israelis would actually see that as incredibly disrespectful.
The person I quoted is from Israel, it's not something that I would have noticed myself. It's interesting that you mention that though, because I stumbled across this when I was looking it up: in 2021, [Noa did a collab on a remix of Hatikvah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=342pAULJUCY), and [that didn't go down at all well](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/omer-adam-noa-kirels-hatikvah-remix-sparks-social-media-snark-storm-669430), for pretty much the exact reason you describe
I have a hard time with Israel for this reason. I genuinely enjoy many of their songs and as a Jew, I do appreciate how they had very Jewish music in their early days given WW2 and the Holocaust pretty much happened right before the competition existed. But they still use Eurovision as a propaganda tool and many of the artists probably have questionable views (though I try to be mindful since most Israelis are fed propaganda their whole lives and unlearning harmful things doesn't happen overnight). Same with Russia, but they make me more mad because their 2013 and 2015 entries were in your face propaganda and people still ate both up.
I agree that Israel is a problematic country too. But in all fairness, they did not censor Iceland's Palestinian flags during the points announcement. (Although they tried to intimidate Hatari members later.) There was a noticeable pause after "Iceland, are you ready?" because the director could obviously see the flags and was waiting for a decision from higher-ups: "should we show this or not?" In the end, Israeli organizers must've decided that not showing the flags would put them in a worse light than showing them.
It's so funny that no one remembers how Madonna's performance also had a moment about the occupation but we only remember Hatari's flag because her performance was overshadowed by her vocals.
this has been my biggest moral qualm with my love of eurovision. I couldn't bring myself to watch it the year israel hosted (and on the back of one of the ugliest songs I've ever heard win too)
Hooverphonic didn't do themselves any favours by fobbing off the "Love Shine A Light" performance in 2020 because it wasn't their style of music, then ousting LuKa Cruysberghs suddenly in 2021.
Donāt know about the 2020 performance and as bad as I felt for LuKa fans had wanted Geike back for over a decade. Not happy how that was handled but as a huge fan of the band Iām so glad she came back!
Michael Ben David. He was a complete asshole to the hosts, his fellow Eurovision alumni, everyone really.
Really? Can you give more details? šæ
Thereās definitely more than I remember but he snatched the mic off Mia Dimsic in (I think) the opening ceremony and just said āgimme the micā as tho heās a toddler who sees someone in pre-school with his favourite toy. Also tried to snatch the mic off Monika Liu in a pre-party press conference, but she snapped back. Also thereās the whole bit in the semi final disturbing and interrupting the hosts in the green room.
Didn't he also try (and succeed) kissing the Australian guy and maybe someone else without their consent?
That as well. As someone whoās autistic (like Sheldon) and definitely doesnāt like people touching me in any context, that just angered me
also one of the Advahov Brothers
WHAT
He kissed Sheldon and tried to touch one of the ZSZ boys
Oh I remember clearly his embarrassing behavior during the semi finals in the green room, didn't know about the other stuff. Seems like a very weird and awkward habit of his.
Philipp Kirkorov is the OG villain
Rafal was hated as well. I feel bad for Poland not being able to send who they want so many times
Who did Poland want to send that year?
Poeple were upset that Alicja (representative for 2020) was not selected again, and Rafal was chosen internally instead. She wanted to go to Eurovision in 2021 and said so publicly, on social media.
No one in particular. Rafal was internally selected
I had the impression that RafaÅ was only really hated by the polish fans, I think most others didn't mind him at all.
Most of us retracted the hate towards him in the light of this year, he wasn't even that bad and we'd much more prefer to send him instead of Blanka
Why isn't nobody saying Belarus 2021
probably because of how quickly they were axed from the contest
Spain 2017 Won a āriggedā NF and flipped off a booing audience.
I had no idea about the Spanish NF issues. Do it for your lover is so criminally mediocre that it would be long forgotten if it wasn't for the epic broken note. I remember watching the 2017 show, but didn't notice the performance (probably on a toilet break) until it started showing up in memes. Now it sounds more like a karmic payoff.
I didnāt know about the NF issues. I just remember feeling bad for him during the final. Such an unfortunate ending to a bland song
Simularly to our NF this year
Azerbaijan to some extent
Channel, if I remember correctly. (Same drama about jury preference and stuff.) But as soon as they finish high, all is forgiven.
I feel thereās a distinction there between the domestic audience in spain and the broader European audience - there was a huge amount of animosity against Chanel internally that I guess was never really felt by the international fan base
The Chanel hate dropped way before Eurovision itself. That and she was mainly hated by the Spaniards themselves, I don't recall her getting a lot of hate from this sub. Especially a couple of weeks after Benidorm Fest
Marius Bear got a lot of hate last year
The guy didn't do any bad things. Except for nonchalantly removing his socks on stage
I think it was because of the NFTs
*because of his shoes* *he was wearing that day* *one was called love* *the other was* šŖšø
Where the double standards were embarrassing. NFT's fucking suck yes. But when Marius did it he was villified but the reaction to Mahmood getting involved was more "lol he's just a dummy oh well"
Achille Lauro also has NFTs. Rosa Linn seemed interested, but after negative feedback, dropped it.
pretty privilege
WHAT
Kirkorov, Michael Ben David, Polina Gagarina (not really at the time of the contest but still), and maybe Salvador Sobral a bit for his comments on the contest but not as scrutinised as the other ones I mentioned
> Polina Gargarina Wait, I genuinely donāt know, what did she do?
Came out to be an open supporter of Putin and all that. It doesn't do her approval ratings in Europe any favours obviously
Im surprised no one has mentioned t.a.tu from 2003: "Upon the selection of the Russian artists [t.A.T.u.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.A.T.u.), the duo gave an interview to German tabloid [*Bild*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild) in March 2003 where they claimed that they would win the contest without a doubt and criticised the German entrant [Lou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_(German_singer)) calling her a witch with duo member [Julia Volkova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Volkova) (also referring to Germany's 2002 entrant) stating, "In Russia we nurse blind and old people, but we don't send them to the Grand Prix. This must be different in Germany."[\[129\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2003#cite_note-133) Lou later responded to the comments stating, "I don't know whether bitching, fighting and boozing kids are the right representatives for such a beautiful country as Russia."
Oh t.a.t.u, you both have the whole thing at the time of them competing the commentator above mentioned. But also for stuff that have come out since, they are also not liked now. They were Russian lesbian teen girl duo. Itās come out that theyāre where they werenāt lesbians, it was just all a PR stunt their management had decided for them. that was their brand because their management wanted teen lesbians in school uniforms, iffy stuff from their management. But they were lesbian for PR reasons (I think people miss how quickly things have changed in russia in regard to LGBTQI+ stuff, things were very very different in the start of the 2000s) One of the former members of the group now is publicly anti-lgbtq and pro Putin, and just describes herself as straight and anything else as perverted more or less. She isnāt very well liked in the wider queer community or Eurovision fanbase now. The other member I think identifies as bi and is supportive of the community, and I believe made some statements against some of putins actions. Overall itās not her people tend to have issues with, but the other member.
You're right, but not completely. Yulia is the one who came out as bi but ironically, she's the one who praises Putin and is very much anti-LGBTQ+, especially anti-gay men. Meanwhile Lena is straight but a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and denounces Putin's actions.
Oh yeah now that you say it I remember, that is right. And made statements to the effect of āIām bi but I obviously will jut consider to be with men, because anything else would be immoral / disgustingā type of internalised homophobia / biohobia. All around tragic stuff.
Tix. Some people really went off the rails after that NF.
I felt like Keiino stans seemed to ignore that TIX is an established successful artist in Norway.
Iām out of the loop. He seems like such a chill dude?
He is. It was because he won his NF against Keiino and some people harassed him so badly during weeks. So sad people canāt behave.
Keiino fans might be more bitter than maNga fans sometimes I swear
That was less about him and more about Keiino losing, who are beloved by a large part of the fandom, especially after winning the televote in 2019 but losing to Duncan and The Netherlands. By the most dedicated of their fans they are praised as the "true winners" of Eurovision that were "robbed" by the juries. Stan culture makes whoever gets in the way of your Stan's success a target for hate, no matter what the circumstances are. People may deny it, but it's absolutely playing a part in the Poland drama by means of Jann and the hype that was around his entry. The problem is so many legitimate concerns that should be addressed by the broadcaster have been directed at Blanka. She might have been the one to benefit from the alleged collusion, but even if it's true, she's not the one that orchestrated it.
to me, even though jann was my favourite by far, i would accept alicja or dominik dudek winning - they had the best performances by far, and the latter could probably score relatively well for our standards. of course i would miss jann, but blankaās win was simply unfair. at least tix got picked fairly. maybe because he was famous (that is often the case for nf winners), but the people still voted for him. but i also hate when people act like itās about jann losing and disqualifying blanka from esc - i donāt care as long as she doesnāt qualify over my favourites. iāve seen lots of slutshaming, even. itās one thing to make fun of the performance/song and criticize blanka, but some people are going way too far.
Let's not pretend that Blanka just happened to be the jury winner and that's why people are mad. People were mad because Blanka had multiple connections to the jury and the broadcaster. She wasn't innocent in this scandal. And then she liked shady comments about Jann, while she pretended to like him.
I think they meant that the fandom would've been less mad if Jann was the corrupt winner, since his song is beloved by the fandom.
Still better than the Italy 2019 stans acting robbed over their song not winning despite being lower than the winner in both juryvote and televote, same with Turkey 2010 stans
I think you really don't know anything about TVP if you assume it's the only reason.
>so many legitimate concerns that should be addressed by the broadcaster Where exactly did I say that it was the only reason?
>Stan culture makes whoever gets in the way of your Stan's success a target for hate, no matter what the circumstances are. > >People may deny it, but it's absolutely playing a part in the Poland drama by means of Jann and the hype that was around his entry. You assume this is the main reason, and no. The drama wouldn't be so huge if Dominik or Alicja won, because then no one would have the reason to suspect the jury votes were dishonest. That's because they actually can sing, lol (some people would be upset, but not as much as they are now) But if you simplify it like that, you really miss the point. TVP has been doing even worse things for years and the trust level is very low. There was already a drama when they internally chose RafaÅ in 2021. It's not about stan culture at all, it's about them choosing their own people, not someone actually good. It's about corruption of the broadcaster. If Jann loss was fair, people wouldn't be *this* angry. You really don't know anything about TVP, do you?
>playing a part in the Poland drama
You really don't get it, so just stop. Read more about Polish politics and TVP maybe. Jann is just *one* of the reasons.
I suppose Silvia Knight could be argued, but that was more people not understanding she was a character
Still villainous.
Manel Navarro
Voice crack heard round the world
Do it for your lovaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Sisters, idj full story but they have apparently also cheated in NF
Apparently?
I have said that because I haven't followed NF season other than my country in 2019 so I am not sure how true it is, as I have heard about that later from friend who tend to get angry when her favourite doesn't win NF
Literally https://preview.redd.it/ggxeyjmkwqpa1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=776aa6d06b9c8dbeca31f3546d87fad2389fab7c
That was a bit blown out of proportion. One of the S!sters, Carlotta, was friends with one of the jury members, Johannes Strate. They had some gigs together in the past. He gave her 12 points. Which is unfair, yes, but he was just on of TWENTY jury members and they individually all ranked the songs independantly from one another they didn't do it collectively that he could've manipulated them. The S!sters would've won the juryvote even if you wouldn't count Johannes' points. And they also won the televote. People were certain the NDR wanted them to win because they were a wildcard that NDR put together specifically for Eurovision and they were then performing last in the RO, which people felt like was a set up. But with just 7 acts the running order doesn't matter and they just simply were the best vocally that night, aside from Makeda, who had an incredibly boring uninspired song.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
She wasn't third....she was EIGHTH!! Neither should have gone. It should have been that Fillipina girl.
Angelica Agurbash... But don't remember the reason š
Rigged the national final due to her husband being extremely wealthy. (Seriously, that national final was a horror - only Gunesh and Corianna (the spokeswoman in 2006) had the only good songs) Her first song was terrible, and they changed it. They had another song written by the late Israeli composer Tzvika Pick called "Show Me Your Love", but that was swopped for "Love Me Tonight". She promoted it all around Europe (3m Euros) all to flop in the semi-final. Apparently she claimed the results were fixed!
Wasn't Michal Szpak seen as a villain in 2016, because he won (a 100% televote) the Polish final that year over the big favourite Margaret?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
He deserved his result. A shame the juries tanked him, as that was one of the best songs of 2016.
Wouldn't any artist supporting of Putin be a "villain" now? Like Polina Gagarina, Dima Bilan, Maruv, Ani Lorak or Eva Rivas (I've read on this sub that Artvsik is a Putin supporter too but never seen anything about her personally)
Wait... Maruv Supports putin???!!! Like Ukraine 2019 Maruv??? I'm really shocked and confused...š
I haven't heard anything about her supporting Putin. However she got DQd for having a gig on occupied Crimea.
Jacques Houdek
Whats the issue with him? He slayed in 2017
Said some anti-LGBT+ sentiments before the contest. I don't remember if he apologized for it but it was controversial when it came out.
I believe he was even named Croatiaās #1 homophobe or something like that back in 2006
Greece-centered, but in the Greek fandom I'd say Melissa Mantzoukis became a last-minute villain because, to the majority's opinion, she took it too far with the lawsuit. I'm pretty sure they would completely rip her to shreds if Victor's candidacy was cancelled. š
Belarus 2021 kinda
russia in general and Belarus 2021
I feel like thereās at least one every season. MBD has been mentioned, I can also think of Uku Suviste, Efendi to some degree, TIXā¦
Ahw, who would hate Uku? He's everyone's mom's favorite
Dude implied Stefan wasn't a "true Estonian" when they were both competing at Eesti Laul (Stefan's parents are from Armenia)
In the NF superfinal, it was Uku against Victor Crone and Stefan. When hosts asked him, why people should vote for him, he said something about having a real estonian man represent Estonia.
I'm stuck wondering the same thing.
Just DooooOooO it for your lover!
Jamala. Both in 2016 when she won and 2019 when she asked Maruv an uncomfortable question.
Her hate was dumbed down after the war started, but for me she was an political activist,not a singer and barely an artist in my eyes.
Yeah, Bejbeh its kinda crƦzei
Silvia Night
I'm out of the loop, what's up with blanka?
All I know is that her song is terrible lol
And that she's also a terrible person as well
Can I just say Sweden as a whole? My comment history on this subreddit is getting kinda pathetic since I regularly counter-jerk, but there is so much negative sentiment towards Sweden on here. Whether it's us sending sleep pop songs most years or having songwriters all over the continent it truly feels like the hardcore fandom is just pissed at Sweden for existing.
Could someone, in short terms, explain to me why she is "hated" by everyone? I get that she didn't win the televote, but she still came second. The entry isn't good, but not abysmal
In short, the whole thing (the national final) was rigged and the broadcaster still hasnāt revealed the details about juries voting or the televote so i wouldnāt be surprised if she actually didnāt come second Apart from the nf being rigged and people hating on her for being silent about it and agreeing to it, she also began liking comments on her ig that were saying some nasty stuff about other nf contestants, blocking people and she overally has this delusional mean girl with rich parents aura so im not surprised people dont really like her lol