I’ve written over a hundred articles about the Eurovision Song Contest – and I am sick to death of its “apolitical” facade

Eurovision can still unite by music, if it has the guts to take a stand against ideologies that want to drive us apart.

On an early Sunday morning (Australian time), a gorgeously flamboyant non-binary artist from Biel, Switzerland responded to a question during the winner’s press conference at the Eurovision Song Contest.

“I broke the code and I broke the trophy. Maybe the trophy can be fixed and maybe Eurovision needs a little bit of fixing too.”

This response was met with cheers and celebration within the press conference room, and quickly went viral across social media. The Eurovision Song Contest, which proudly carries the slogan “United by Music”, was called out for its exploitation and hypocrisy by its own winner and new poster child, Nemo.

As a hardcore Eurovision fan for well over a decade, I’ve heard the story of how this contest came to exist a million times over. The story goes that after Europe was torn apart by two world wars, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided to unify the continent through the medium of music, and over the years it went from a kooky yearly TV show to a massive annual celebration of queerness, audacious musical performances, and neurodiversity, complete with three shows, pre-parties and an internationally devoted fanbase.

Is this actually true? We don’t know, but probably not. Eurovision started out as an experiment in international television production that was inspired by the Italian Sanremo Festival and had only seven countries in its first edition in 1956. The world peace mission story was tacked on much later, and Eurovision didn’t even include any countries from the Soviet Bloc until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not exactly bringing Europe together if Europe is still divided.

Nonetheless, it is very true that in recent years Eurovision has gained a reputation as a queer haven across even the more conservative parts of Europe, with queer acts winning the contest in 2014, 2019 and 2024, and with artists such as Lithuania’s Silvester Belt and Poland’s Luna expressing queer solidarity this year in spite of their countries having regressive track record on queer issues. It has also been a crucial platform in which musicians from diverse backgrounds can gain an opportunity to befriend each other across the industry. Have you wanted to hear a collaboration between an Australian Indigenous band and a Norwegian Sami band? Well, you can, thanks to the Eurovision Song Contest.

This year, however, the usual sense of camaraderie and love had a huge dark overtone, and the response of the contest organiser’s, the EBU, rather than uniting the artists and viewers, only fuelled the division more than ever. Former members of the EBU have even asked whether the contest can survive in today’s world.

Well, as a fan, I think it can, but only if it truly leaves behind its “apolitical” facade and makes a true, defiant stand for the “Love Love Peace Peace” values it ostensibly holds.