Hi there.
For the last 9 years, we have prided ourselves on maintaining that the Eurovision Song Contest IS and HAS ALWAYS BEEN political.
Eurovision does not exist in a vacuum. It has always been shaped by the world around it and we have based our whole podcast series on this.
We always have been, and will continue to be, critical of the State of Israel and other nations and groups who commit atrocities and lie through propaganda. We do not shy away from bringing you the news of the year for EVERY Eurovision year. If something significant happened during that time, WE WILL talk about it.
To that end, in order to complete the picture of the Eurovision Song Contest over its 70 year run, we will still be releasing the last handful of episodes that cover the 1960s and 1950s era of the contest. We will then end our podcast journey with a final episode sometime in 2026 - our 10 year anniversary.
With that said, we WILL NOT be covering Eurovision 2026. There will be no preview or debrief episode. Mark will not be doing Eurovision 2026 reaction videos on YouTube. We are also not attending the contest in Vienna in protest.
We refuse to buy into this current false narrative of “United by Music” while the EBU washes its hands of geopolitical events - namely the continued deaths of innocents in Gaza, including many young children and the continued forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. This is now simply too big to ignore. The EBU cannot hide behind a ‘song contest’ to absolve itself of any culpability. The current director, Martin Green, has admitted that Eurovision can be a tool for countries to demonstrate who they are. And Israel has certainly done that these past few years. Its government has interfered multiple times, influencing not only a large voting bloc against the spirit of the contest, but also directly using its President to ensure direct support. If the contest is supposed to be apolitical, then no government official, let alone its President should be involved in any capacity.
We also believe that the lack of punishment of KAN and the Israeli government for this blatant disregard for the contest and the manipulation of televotes has brought Eurovision as it is now into disrepute. Rule changes or not, there will be ways around it and it will be found. It will only end when Israel wins the contest again so they can finally be satisfied that in this current climate “Europe loves Israel”. That’s the end goal of its so called “hasbara.”
We wholly blame the EBU for their lack of leadership and integrity when it comes to recognising that they cannot escape politics and for pretending the outside world doesn’t change the landscape of the contest. We blame them for acquiescing to Israel’s deliberate political interference in the last few months that saw any vote on Israel’s future participation castrated before it any had any chance happening. Make no mistake, that was a deliberate choice.
To our listeners - if you want to leave us as you are boycotting all things Eurovision, you have every right to and we thank you for being here.
If you want to stick around and learn about history and how it relates to older Eurovisions, we’ll still be here.
We feel it is necessary to look at the past to understand the now. Warts and all. War and all.
WMP
This is how we are choosing to move forward.
It’s ALWAYS been political.
