Eurovision winner Nemo wasted no time in criticising the organisers behind this year’s competition following their win on Saturday night.
This year’s song contest was marred in controversy, largely due to the presence of Israel, which resulted in many fans – and the Palestine-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement – calling for a boycott of the broadcast.
Saturday night saw Swiss singer Nemo triumphing in a historic victory, not just as the first non-binary to win Eurovision, but the first singer representing Switzerland to be crowned since Céline Dion in 1988.
Nemo celebrated their success in the voting by waving the non-binary pride flag, but admitted at a press conference after their win they’d had to “smuggle” this in after being told by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that it wasn’t allowed.
“I did it anyway, so I hope some people did that too,” they said. “But, I mean, come on, this is clearly a double standard.”
After the broadcast, Eurovision shared a picture of Nemo and their non-binary flag on social media, with the caption: “Non-binary finery.”
Having apparently broken the Eurovision trophy during their winning celebration on stage, Nemo told reporters: “The trophy can be fixed – maybe Eurovision needs fixing a little bit too, every now and then.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Nemo admitted their Eurovision experience had been “really intense”, and “not just pleasant all the way”.
They noted that “a lot of things” during the competition had not made it “seem like it was all about love and unity” which made them “really sad”.
However, they noted that “at the same time, there was so much love here as well”.
Meanwhile, UK representative Olly Alexander finished in 18th place, after securing 46 points from the international juries (although his performance scored zero points from viewers watching at home).