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Original poster

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

519 replies

Colourofspring · 11/05/2024 08:27

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!

OP posts:
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6
Agapornis · 11/05/2024 11:40

I've been reliably informed it's a not inaccurate depiction of SweatBox, Soho 😅Grin The pearl clutchers are probably not the kind of people who attend or vote in Eurovision... And they clearly all missed the Grindr notifications joke in Monday's semi finals.

SocksAndTheCity · 11/05/2024 11:46

I thought there was some kind of technical event - didn't his earpiece fall off or something? I don't think it was great, but only because it's a bit bland and dull (as is the Swiss one).

Croatia or Estonia were my favourites and I like the Greek one too, if only because it sounds really Greek 😀

TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 11:50

LakieLady · 11/05/2024 08:50

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.

Huhhhh

Kidsarehard · 11/05/2024 11:52

alittleprivacy · 11/05/2024 09:06

Of course it is. When the literal most tolerant people who have ever existed in the whole history of humanity are constantly berated for their lack of tolerance, it's not surprising that a large cohort get sick of it and step backwards. Many people had to be convinced to let their guard down and accept people for who they were. It's not surprising that those guards are going back up when they are told it's not enough. And if something doesn't change very, very soon, it will almost certainly get worse.

I've studied the society of the 1920s and 30s and the current parallels are impossible to ignore. We could be about to go down a very dark path but threads like yours, that just accuse people who are a bit sick of being constantly prodded are part of the problem. Just like the equivalent was a century ago. You are keen to virtue signal even when it takes lying about the Eurovision and acting as if the 60s and the 80s are the same thing. It's gaslighting people and will only make them angrier and less tolerant. If you actually cared, you'd try to understand what is happening and help work out how to get back to where we were 15 years ago. Instead you just want to show how good you are and fuck the consequences.

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I was going to say that I believe it's because it's pushed so hard now and shoved down your throat/in your face all the time that is having the opposite effect, but this post explains it much better, as does the post by @Tilelurr.

TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 11:53

alittleprivacy · 11/05/2024 08:51

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.
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I would imagine it's very seedy
<Laughs at own jizz joke>
Not very mature for an old crooner

LakeTiticaca · 11/05/2024 11:55

Colourofspring · 11/05/2024 08:33

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?

Being gay wasn't illegal in the 80s when Bucks Fizz won.
I don't care if he's gay but I'm rather concerned he is representing "Royaume Uni" given that he thinks our flag is "divisive and nationalistic"
That's null point from me!!

PTSDBarbiegirl · 11/05/2024 11:55

Gay men are not all 'camp' FFS!!
In the media world there are loads of big personalities, attention seeking & shouting the loudest is the order of the day. Ollie Alexander is a brilliant performer and actor who very much represents a part of the gay community but not all. 'Campness' is aligned with gay men too often, it's an old stereotype from the Larry Grayson school. I know a few camp gay men but the majority I know are not camp in the slightest and can't be bothered with TQI or Eurovision.

TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 11:57

AmusedMaker · 11/05/2024 08:51

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.

It was Spain and it was meant to be irony having the corseted young men with her, given the whole song is about reclaiming the Spanish misogynist slur Zorro which means vixen/bitch/slut.
Whole song is about well, if that makes me a slut, shit to you, I'm Senora Slut. The cougar trope and leather dancers is a massive middle finger to Spanish misogyny. Song's a banger.

Topofthemountain · 11/05/2024 11:57

The Eurovision song contest started to go downhill when there was no longer a requirement to sing in the native language.

It then became about shock value.

Fluorescentgem · 11/05/2024 12:00

I'm embarrassed by Ireland's entry - Bambi Thug. Such a load of horse shit. I would never watch Eurovision now.

PassingStranger · 11/05/2024 12:00

AmusedMaker · 11/05/2024 08:51

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.

Agree. Used to watch as a child, there was nothing outlandish or camp.
Bucks Fizz, Abba, Johnny Logan etc.
Not sure it's family viewing today.

TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 12:03

ClairemacL · 11/05/2024 09:08

If Sam Ryder was competing today he’d win by an absolute mile.

I agree. Everyone needs the smiley Spaniel right now. Dose of sunshine. That said, like Lena or Dadi Freyr, I think sometimes that lightning in a bottle effect is best left as a lovely one-time gig.

VickyEadieofThigh · 11/05/2024 12:09

Pepsiisbetterthancoke · 11/05/2024 10:06

Do you mean Sam Ryder? Don’t think Sam Smith has done Eurovision

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I did, thanks for alerting me to the error!

Phoebefail · 11/05/2024 12:20

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TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 12:25

Olly's vocals were reportedly a lot better yesterday.
He lost his battery pack thing on Tuesday.
I like him very much.
I am just a bit sulky that Switzerland's doing the revolving disc staging Olly should have done. Was it First Dibs or something?
I mean, the song's called Dizzy. It was a non-brainer/should have been a slam dunk.

Willmafrockfit · 11/05/2024 12:28

has it all gone a bit Eurotrash

Willmafrockfit · 11/05/2024 12:29

Topofthemountain · 11/05/2024 11:57

The Eurovision song contest started to go downhill when there was no longer a requirement to sing in the native language.

It then became about shock value.

but they have been singing in english for years

Original poster
Colourofspring · 11/05/2024 12:30

TomJonesHuhhh · 11/05/2024 12:03

I agree. Everyone needs the smiley Spaniel right now. Dose of sunshine. That said, like Lena or Dadi Freyr, I think sometimes that lightning in a bottle effect is best left as a lovely one-time gig.

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Dado Freyr had the best Eurovision song ever that didn’t win! Think it was the covid year! So great!

OP posts:
roarrfeckingroar · 11/05/2024 12:43

I'm not offended by it but I do think it's a bit distasteful. Likewise Sam Smith being trussed up like a greased pig. At least Olly has the body for it.

KnittedCardi · 11/05/2024 12:45

We all know Eurovision is a camp fest, but the BBC don't help by having a 100% male gay set of presenters. No women available? No lesbians? Is there no other flavour at the BBC other than gay men?

NeverEnoughPants · 11/05/2024 12:46

PassingStranger · 11/05/2024 12:00

Agree. Used to watch as a child, there was nothing outlandish or camp.
Bucks Fizz, Abba, Johnny Logan etc.
Not sure it's family viewing today.

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You are using Abba to make the point that Eurovision wasn't camp? That gay icon of a band? 70s Disco was the epitome of camp, and there was no shortage of it in Eurovision.

Cliff Richard with his frilly shirt in the 60s - camp.

How camp presents has changed over the years, and just because the Eurovision version of camp in the 60s and 70s might have been more family friendly, doesn't mean it wasn't camp. It was just camp 'of it's time'.

LakeTiticaca · 11/05/2024 12:48

It went down the toilet when Terry Wogan retired. I only watched for his sarky comments 🤣

Elebag · 11/05/2024 12:49

The song is OK but the staging has really let it down. Dirty toilet blocks are not disco. He could have done better.

AliceKyteler · 11/05/2024 12:54

LakeTiticaca · 11/05/2024 12:48

It went down the toilet when Terry Wogan retired. I only watched for his sarky comments 🤣

There's only two famous people that I genuinely felt extremely sad when they died and that's Tezza and Victoria Wood.

ThisNoisyTealLurker · 11/05/2024 12:55

I think a lot of this ‘it’s too seedy’, ‘it’s too camp’ ‘I don’t need to see this’ and the classic ‘think about the children!’ Is just homophobia. It’s theatre, Eurovision has always been colourful and a bit ott it’s part of the fun.