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!

If you can find where I said that Ukraine didn't win in part because of the war, I'll give you a fiver.

I said that I'm sure that they did get some sympathy votes.

I also said that the song was better than Sam Ryder's, and that view was shared by the whole group that I watched the show with that year.

Sam Ryder didn't deserve to win, or come second, imo. There were better songs (plural), including Ukraine's. It was decent. I put it in my top ten. Where it charted is irrelevant. As I implied, the charts don't tell us anything except what is popular. It doesn't tell us what is good.

I agree 😁
I was watching with my 16 year old, I'm like "he's forgot his feckin trousers!" 😂
I actually went "put some pants on!" at the telly lol
Olly on the other hand just like any other pop video MTV thang of sexual thrusty stuff, seen it all before

Well you were making the comparison about people being outraged 🤷🏻‍♀️

@ilovepixie & my point was that it's not the same. It's really not strange.

You disagreed with my comment about it being a vote for Ukraine in the circumstances.

And using an anecdote (who your wee group of five went for) as an argument, really? I'll allow it...but your anecdote is trumped by the British public who bought Sam's song to put it #2 in the chart, while the Ukraine song was bought by you and your mates? and maybe a few hundred Eurovision aficionados/collectors to get it to a whopping #38.

You're not very good at this are you?

I'll let you off with the fiver. Now about that bridge, interested?

The song was mid-range at best. The performance was dire. He simply does not have a voice for this type of arena against people who clearly do. This covered up by the staging which was too complicated for him, to maintain a good performance. In addition, most of it was performed away from the live crowd, and more for the audience at home.

There was nothing camp or playful about the performance. The winner from Swiss was more camp. The dancing was aggressively and overtly sexual. Unlike other i.e. Spain this was put in a closed intimate space rather than on the massive stage which is where it crossed the line. I suspect for this reason it's about selling records to the niche market rather than winning the competition.

I do find it a bit sad that it is all getting less family friendly. I don't give a monkeys that it is more gay and gender neutral. Lots of the straight singers had virtually no clothes on them or their dancers too. I was quite pleased that ds2 flaked out before Bambi Thug, as it was rather scary. Baby Lasagne should have won, but i did enjoythe Switzerland song.

I love Ollie in other things, but the song was bland. If he had done the it's a sin with Elton song, he would have come much higher. Shame they can't do covers!

He's deliberately offensive and provocative.

If you want to cheer for your country - you're either cheering for "one of us" or a "one of us we cherish"

This country bends over backwards to be inclusive.

But if you're going to represent us - very few of us have had a sexual encounter in a public toilet. Even George Michael, gifted songwriter, would have told you, you can get arrested for that - It breaks this country's laws and tolerance levels.

We don't want our teenage or younger sons going into public toilets where sex acts are occurring.

It's corrupting. The same way we don't want our children accessing porn on phones.

The BBC is completely bonkers and distressingly influenced by extremists.

What I would like to see is our Eurovision contestant voted for by the British public like X Factor. Being British, we are inclusive, judgemental, love an underdog, willing to engage, support, cheer .... I would absolutely consider the Eurovision the most important event of the year, IF the British public decided who should represent us.

A song corrupting! FFS.

I used to run around singing into my hairbrush at the age of 8.singing Like A Virgin, and touching me for the very first time -, thinking back my parents probably shrieked too 😁

I disagreed that it wasn't more a vote for Ukraine. By which I mean I think more people voted for it because of the song, rather than because of the war.

And ok, let's talk chat success, if you really want to push the point.

Stefania charted in 26 countries. The top five positions were:
1 - Ukraine (UK didn't chart)
1 - Lithuania (UK 15)
2 - US (UK 93)
2 - Finland (UK didn't chart)
5 - Hungary (UK didn't chart)

Spaceman charted in 15 countries. The top five positions were:
2 - UK (Ukraine 38)
5 - Iceland (Ukraine 7)
12 - Germany (Ukraine 22)
13 - Lithuania (Ukraine 1)
15 - Sweden (Ukraine 7)

Of the 26, Ukraine was top 40 in 22 countries. 84%

Of the 15, UK was top 40 in 9. 63%

I feel like your wee argument about how Sam wuz robbed is trumped by the European public, who put Ukraine at number one in two countries, while Sam couldn't make number one in his own - or any other for that matter.

It was just a terrible song and a bad performance. I heard it for the first time when he did it at the actual final and I wasn't sure if there was a problem with the sound or if his vocals were just that weak.

For me it's more how the UK was the only act to make it about identity. Just stop it it's so played out like we f*inh get it. If they had just made it about the song he'd have probably got some votes.

Well the winning act was about Nemo being non binary soo...

Of course that was a great song incorporating many skills and amazing vocals.

If we're talking about what kids learn from watching TV etc., as some people are on here, I'd hope for more positive role models. Don’t guy men get frustrated by being portrayed as outrageously camp? I couldn't care less about who sleeps with who, it really is no-one else's business but all the screaming sequin stuff is very boring. Might there be some young people attracted to the same sex who don't identify with it and are therefore being let down by tedious stereotypes.

"Don’t guy men get frustrated by being portrayed as outrageously camp?"

I'm not a gay man, but as a straight woman, I get frustrated at being portrayed as tall, slim and gorgeous with a great singing voice. It happens every year at Eurovision, it's really annoying.

My problem with the staging wasn't "campiness" but the Prison shower vibe. Even one of the looks one of the guys gave seemed to indicate shock or "I don't want to be doing this". So a performance that seemed to hint at rape I did find unpleasant and probably didn't earn votes.
On the other hand Switzerland's was clever and impressive.

I didn't think the staging was great but the biggest problem was clearly the vocals. He sounded awful. Nemo sounded absolutely fantastic. A flawless vocal performance and we'd have done better.

Look at the countries that had the most seediness/nudity for the sake of nudity on stage. UK, Spain, Finland and Slovenia. They all did really badly. I think overall the audiences are falling between finding it off-putting or just really bored of it.

And women fight against those stereotypes every day of their lives. So I'm not really just talking about Eurovision in terms of the representation of gay men on the media.

I am an ambassador for gays right (but straight myself). My children know gay people and straight people and we love them all the same. BUT... When you add together Spain (2 men in racy costumes, fishnets, bums out doing moves that would make my grandma blush, olly's song which looked to at one point have 2 men hanging out of the back of 2 other men and windows95man who had his arse and balls out for the show, it's gone from being some most families I know watching it together to discussions as to whether involve the children next year.

I have no issue with the homosexual element at all. If it would have been 2 men hanging out the back of 2 women, I would have had just as much an issue. This competition is known to be celebrated by families GLOBALLY and I think that children were overlooked massively this year.

I love that eurovision has always been accepting and camp as anything and I champion that. I don't let my children watch sexualised music videos but there wasn't even any disclaimers or trigger warnings. I had to send my kids out of the room 3 times last night so they could still hear the song but wouldn't see anything INAPPROPRIATE. We have watched eurovision as a family party every year for at least a decade, and last night was the first time I was uncomfortable with my kids, my parents and my grandparents. Just not ok.

Would you all be OK seeing that kind of content on Disney or nickelodeon or whatever kids channels are about these days?

What happened to letting kids stay kids? They don't need to know or see that much. It's too far.

Spain should have had older female dancers it would have matched the lyrics of the song better. I loved the song itself.

What they're all at it now. Ireland, Denmark, Lithuania, and Switzerland were also non identifying as bi or binary. Were there others?
Being trans/non binary is so ubiquitous. How can they shock us next year.

Yes it's all such 'look at me' bollocks.

Had the milk churns been on top of male genitalia simulating a sex act then I'm sure there would have been. It was a bit cheeky but that is in effect how you churn butter.