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!

Was there? Sorry, I missed that- I was obviously distracted by something, can't imagine what 😂

Why would there be taps in a shower room, though? No one washes their hands after having a shower! Even the set designer didn't have a clue what was going on!

He simulated bumming in what was clearly meant to be a toilet.

Gross regardless of any sexuality

It was a locker room, with showers, not a toilet. The video was sports based (I would say boxing) so hence the locker room

Yeah, didn't see any toilets?!
Just looked like a grotty room to me.
Loved the song though

The whole performance was supposed to depict a big, seedy gay orgy in a (visibly) dirty mens toilet...complete with urinals. How terribly modern and risqué.

That goes to show how unobservant I am. As I watched I was just wondering how they did it - the ceiling-wall-floor thing. I thought it was a boxing locker room theme because of the boxing gloves, jock straps, etc.

What difference does it make if it eas a toilet or a locker room next to toilets. I'm sure sex orgies go on in both. Isnt that what the soho baths thing is all about. The point is, this is the exact place where my gay nephew was sexually assaulted when he was 17 and had just started university and it depicts a gay male cliche that lots of people think doesnt need to be sinulated on a family friendly show on a Saturday night. Im sure Olly Alexander has had a great time in that setup, just as some straight and bi people enjoy sex clubs and BDSM and dogging dungeons. Doesnt make it suitable for prime time TV. No one give a crap about the performers sexuality or the sex of the backing dancers. It's just a sleazy look.

Eurovision is full of LGBTQ performers and it is very popular amongst the gay community. So the lack of public votes for Ollie says it all!

I’m not from the UK, but that was just really sleazy..not shocking, just bad. I can see why they got zero points.

I love Oli but this was not his finrst.
Why would you self destruct your established career by risking Eurovision?

Unfortunately the whole performance was about his sexuality which undermined the performance & song. I just get fed up of having other peoples sexuality shoved in my face in the guise of a performance- and I say the same about heterosexual singers as well. Think of the backlash against miley cyrus & wrecking ball.

No, you were correct. It was a boxing style locker room. The other poster saw a toilet because that suits her gay / cottaging rhetoric

People are entitled to find the performance offensive or not, depending on their value system.
I'm offended by the phrase - 'pearl clutching' - it's deliberately aimed at a certain demographic - and no I've never owned a string of pearls in my life, I just detest divisive and inflammatory expressions which seem to reflect lazy thinking or the desire to be contentious.

The fact that it was set in a filthy public toilet (or changing rooms) and the singer and his backing dancers were performing lewd moves simulating sex had nothing to do with nil points - right? Very disappointing - hope the powers that be learn from getting this so wrong.

It's a shower room (one needing a good scrub) it's not a urinal on the wall it's a towel, but upside down.
I'm not sure it's fair to call posters homophobic though for thinking a video that is designed to look seedy is, well, seedy though.

Sorry, keep seeing this thread in trending and every time ...

God, I feel old.

Are we going to pretend there’s a huge difference?

its a really damaging cliche that gay men seek out sex in these communal areas. The fact that it was a shower room makes it worse. Given the ‘jokes’ made about men raping and sexually assaulting other men in showers.

who is benefiting from playing into these damaging cliches?

So op made out there was loads of outrage around the singer and implied that a lot of it was because he was openly gay and how it was a sign the UK was going backwards.

Eurovision and its fans are known as being very pro lgbt+, but the song and performance didn’t do well. So what’s the reasoning it didn’t do well?

Now, now.

Many women would prefer to think that gay men are all sweetness and light and it’s only a tiny minority who have done anything seedy, but, ahem, you would be hard pushed to find one who hasn’t. Men are not like women. They aren’t instinctively repulsed by dirty, seedy environments or anonymous sex and orgies like most women are. The reason why straight men aren’t having seedy orgies in dirty places is because women aren’t up for it.

'Many women would prefer to think that gay men are all sweetness and light and it’s only a tiny minority who have done anything seedy, but, ahem, you would be hard pushed to find one who hasn’t'

Couldn't give a rat's ass who has done anything seedy, however there is a time and a place and his desperate 'performance' had no place on a singing contest.

As a pp said eurovision is very pro LGBT so to get zero points must surely tell Alexander his embarrassing crap was just that. Embarrassing crap.

Yes, it did appear to be a shower room, rather than toilets. I'm sure there was a shower head as part of the set, and shown in screen. Not urinals or,toilets.

No idea why it needed to be so grubby and dirty looking though.

Bottom line for us was that the sing wasn't great and his vocals weren't good, at the semi finals or in the final. The staging and dance weren't as sexual/sleazy as I'd heard they were to be (didn't see the song during the semis, but heard it) - unless they'd toned the, done. Some suggestive bits (which tbh it fairly normal in Eurovision) but not as explicit as I'd been led to believe from the media.

It was never going to win as it wasn't a good song and his vocals weren't good enough.

Why would there be taps in a shower room, though? No one washes their hands after having a shower!

Most have a sink with taps ime, at least just outside of the shower area. Where you can wash, do your hair.make up, clean teeth, etc. and wash hands.

Given that the song that won was about the singers journey into identifying as non binary he can hardly blame that.

his vocals were poor as well

The other poster saw a toilet because that suits her gay / cottaging rhetoric

Do me a favour. I saw a urinal because it looked like a urinal (to me).

Dirty toilet block, dirty shower room, it really doesn't make much difference. It was rank either way.

I think the whole spinny thing with the set and camera moving around was really clever. And it did succeed in making me feel dizzy - which is the name of the song - very effective concept.

The performances of Alexander and the dancers were good too.

The song was weak though. There wasn’t an element of surprise or a sing-along section. It didn’t get points because there were better songs imo.

Also, there’s probably still an anti-British bias in the public voting, like when Sam Ryder won the judges vote for the first time in decades, the public vote swung the UK out of winning.

I love this film. I still listen to the soundtrack.