U.K. Eurovision entry! A lot of pearl clutching

[Colourofspring]

The outrage and comments I have seen about Olly Alexander’s performance is baffling to be honest. So much pearl clutching! Eurovision has always been completely camp and outrageous and yet suddenly he has been portrayed as some kind of disgrace and not representative of the UKs ‘values’ (what the fuck does that mean anyway?)

I like the song, I have seen him perform live at Glastonbury with years and years, he’s good live. Yes he’s openly gay - so what? Surely UK values should be based around tolerance and acceptance and not hysteria because his performance is considered risqué. Would it be considered the same if it was a load of half naked female dancers?

I am heterosexual but not offended by it - it’s just a performance - I hope he wins as he’s a nice guy!

So much pearl clutching!

I'm 66. It hasn't always been camp and outrageous, all of that is relatively new. I'm not clutching my pearls, I'm just completely bored by it all, starting with Conchita Whatisname. Won't be watching. Camp stopped being funny with Kenneth Williams. Just boring now. (Rylan, are you listening?)

I've not seen it yet, but I find it hard to believe it could be worse than Sam Smith's cries for help.

Surely it’s just more representative of all sections of the population now than in the Bucks Fizz days? Gay men got prosecuted and put in prison back in the day. Isn’t a society where everyone can be themselves a bit nicer?

Christ, if my kids turn out to be gay, I hope they can feel happy being themselves in a an accepting society 🤪

I think Sam Smith has a lot to answer for in influencing the trend away from fun theatre camp and towards the grotesque.

It's homophobia. There is a constant undercurrent of it in the UK and it likes to rear it ugly head now and again.

i liked Sam Ryder's entry
and I like olly Alexander, i have not seen him perform but i like the song

@Willmafrockfit people are outraged by him and by the staging. He read a story on CBeebies and the Facebook page has loads of comments saying he shouldn’t be on there as he’s promoting homosexuality to toddlers.

Its literally insane.

I love campness and flamboyance and I love Olly, I really hope he does well tonight!!! I have noticed a trend towards homophobia in recent times, I can guess why but it's completely unacceptable.

I'm older than you and couldn't disagree more.

And Rise Like a Phoenix was a strong, powerful song and one of the most important Eurovision winners.

If you can't be hilariously gay and camp during Eurovision when can you? And to be fair, female artists have had troups of semi naked, oiled, buff, gyrating men dancing with them on stage for decades and no one has batted an eyelid, so if the only issue is that Olly is a bloke alongside his gyrating gentlemen then yeh it's blatant homophobia disguised as concerns for "British Values".

Unless I’ve watched something different to everyone else I can’t see the issue. I don’t think it was grotesque, at least not any more than the half naked women that have pranced around on stages for many decades. I’m reminded of the dance troupe Zoo, and Cameo (codpieces…) from the 80s.

Fair enough. I forgot to say I have found the songs mostly forgettable as well and some truly awful. Perhaps they always were. Memory plays one false.

i really like the song and the video. Didn’t watch any performance of it.
It’s just homophobia. Which is sad and awful.
I think issues over the last few years with TRAs have promoted the growth in homophobia unfortunately. People suddenly feel like they have something to fear and it’s ok to other people even if they are just dressing uniquely. Sad.

It's not a great performance. The lyrics are rather silly, but it's a catchy song. It's not that bad either, the concept is quite cool actually. Not the gyrating , humping parts as those are as old as time in various forms.

Makes me think of the outrage around Madonna simulating a sex act during the blond ambition tour in the early 90’s too - my grandad tried to stop me going to see her at Wembley!! Risqué performance is hardly new

I'm so ancient that I can remember people complaining about Tom Jones being indecently sexual when he first appeared on tv. I haven't watched Eurovision since the year Abba won in the 70s, but I've just watched the video on YT and I can't see anything wrong with it. Music videos have become much more sexualised over the last 30 years or so, and I really can't see what the fuss is about.

The song is mediocre at best though, and sounds really dated to me. Shame, because I like Olly Alexander as an actor and hoped for something a bit less ... well, ordinary, I suppose.

"He's openly gay, so what?"

Exactly. We managed to get to a point of acceptance where it was a non issue. Where people's sexuality was a part of them, but unimportant. Now we're regressing to a time long past as though the acceptance gained isn't there anymore, yet it is.

The song should be the focus. The performer is important, but being gay is neither here nor there anymore. It's just a fact.

Have you arrived here from 2008 or something?

1. Eurovision hasn't always been camp, that's more of a this century thing.
2. Almost no-one gives a shit that Olly Alexander is gay or sings about being attracted to men.
3. The whole overtly sexual mainstream musical performances has been going on for decades. I saw it when I was a kid, I'm middle aged now. It's not daring or shocking anymore, it's extremely, extremely boring old hat.
4. His backing dancers looked to be extremely talented dancers and apart from a few brief moments where they shone, the choreography squandered their presence.
5. Alexander is himself a talented man, some of his Years and Years stuff are bangers. This Eurovision song is not one of them, it's dull. Instead of writing a banging song, he focused on a shit 'shocking' dance. (His co-writer also has some great stuff on his CV, Dizzy is not an example of his best work.)
6. Alexander sang poorly in his Eurovision performances, probably due to being focused on the very complicated, but shit looking dance routine.
7. Criticising the joyless, seedy depiction of a gay bathhouse isn't homophobia if the people criticising it would also criticise a joyless, seedy depiction of a heterosexual sex club.

Eurovision used to be good family fun.
Amongst the silly, jolly songs, you’d get the occasional ABBA, & Celine Dion, it was great.
But now it has become a bit too sexual, ( sleazy even ) for me.
Saw a performance on the semi final show the other night, can’t remember which country, but the woman singer had two semi naked men, they were dressed in what looked like little leather cut out swimming costumes dancing around her, just way too much imo.

I like Olly Alexander, haven’t seen his performance but the song is rubbish - he’ll come nowhere.

Completely agree with this
I think it's a great song, and what is it that people are offended about?
Him being gay?
How ridiculous if so. I swear society's going backwards.

@alittleprivacy my point is that the U.K. seems to be going backwards in terms of acceptance of everyone. It’s become a far moee more racist, inward looking, homophobic country than I remember growing up.

Surely if that was the case then nobody would be gay? If all people saw was open heterosexuals for generations and yet there are gay people.

Honestly I despair at the stupidity of some. Do people really believe if a child sees a gay person their sexual orientation will change?

It's bonkers this year and don't get me started about ' Bambi thug' . Call that music ...
Best bit about Eurovision is the mumsnet thread on it all , comedy gold
I like Olly , but it probably won't win

It’s been an accepting society for years. The younger generation don’t seem to want to see it. Only Gay in the Village vibes.