The Indo Daily: Should Bambie Thug and Irish audiences boycott the Eurovision?

Bambie Thug rehearsing 'Doomsday Blue' in Malmo. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett

Ireland is back in the Eurovision Song Contest final again, after many barren years in the wilderness - but it hasn’t come without debate.

The country’s entrant Bambie Thug is one of the favourites to win in Malmo on Saturday night. The Cork singer reached the final with their song ‘Doomsday Blue’. But the “ouija pop” sensation has come under increasing scrutiny since they burst onto the scene back in January.

Last month, more than 400 Irish artists signed a letter to Bambie Thug calling on the singer to boycott the contest over Israel’s participation in the event. As the war in Gaza escalates, there have been calls for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to have Israel removed from the competition, as Russia was in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In the run-up to Saturday’s final, Bambie Thug said those who want them to boycott the contest said they should “be contacting the EBU and RTÉ more than me”. “We are easy targets as artists. I don’t think it’s entirely fair to bully us so much,” said the singer.

Today on The Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by the podcast’s own Garrett Mulhall and Dave Hanratty, and Kirsty Blake Knox, features writer with the Irish Independent, to debate and discuss Ireland’s divisive finalist and to ask whether or not they – and we – should instead be boycotting the competition.