Petition to stop BBC broadcasting Eurovision song that glamorises sexual strangulation (before the watershed!)

[DreamyHedgehog]

Someone has created a change.org petition calling on The BBC and The EBU to not broadcast “Choke Me”, a song competing at Eurovision this year which glamorises sexual strangulation - unless the lyrics are changed.

The song is due to be broadcast on May 14th shortly after 8pm on BBC One - before the watershed.

I’ve just signed, sharing here in case anyone else wants to sign and share too.

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-bbc-airing-eurovision-content-that-normalises-violence-against-women

These are the full lyrics to the song:

Phantom
You feel like a phantom
Why do you wanna tame me?
It's hard to breathe in
Do you feel me?
Do what I say
And don't you ever betray me
You are here to obey me
Are you not?
All I need is your love
I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me
Born for you to control
I want you to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Love me, make my lungs explode like oh oh oh…
All I need is your love
I want it to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Choke me
Choke me
Choke me
Save me
Inside I'm blazin'
I want you to call me, call me, call me
Call, my body is begging
Do what I say
And don't you ever betray me
You are here to obey me
Are you not?
All I need is your love
I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me
Born for you to control
I want you to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Love me, make my lungs explode like oh oh oh…
All I need is your love
I want it to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
All I need is your love
I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me
Born for you to control
I want you to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Love me, make my lungs explode like oh oh oh…
All I need iѕ your love
I wаnt it to choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me
Ch-ch-ch-choke me

Which is probably why Israel may well win 🙄

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/mar/13/romania-eurovision-song-choke-me-criticised-glamorising-sexual-strangulation

The video's embedded in that article. Funnily enough, it sounds like 'Cho me' or 'Show me'. What a bunch of numpties they look, though.

'Research last year showed more than half of people under the age of 35 had experienced strangulation, with nearly a third wrongly believing there were safe ways to strangle someone.
Numerous studies have shown brain changes in women who have been repeatedly “choked” during sex, including markers for brain damage and disruptions in brain hemispheres linked to depression and anxiety.
Nearly half said they had experienced anxiety during or after being strangled, with even a fleeting moment of strangulation potentially leading to lifelong health problems.
McGlynn added: “What this shows is the desperate need for better education and awareness-raising as to the harms of women.
“But what also bothers me so much is that many young women do not want to engage in strangulation/choking, but its normalisation makes them feel like they have to despite their own inner sense that it’s not right and, for some, their knowledge of the harms. But it’s promotion in this way makes it just harder for young women to resist. And not resisting is putting their own health and lives at risk.
“Why do we seem to care so little about the health and wellbeing of young women?” she added.'

Signed, thx for creating the petition

It was someone else. I wasn’t brave enough to do it because you have to register on change.org with a legal name or entity and I was too afraid - because the fans of the song are truly scary.

They attacked the first prominent female YouTuber who spoke up about it relentlessly and have done the same to everyone else who has expressed unease. The person who put it up appears to have an organisation behind them so they don’t have to use their name.

Its so sad that we live in a world where even calling a spade a spade online as a woman, especially if that spade is violence against women, is so dangerous.

FFS - it's never-bloody-ending isn't it. Have signed but I'm appalled that it got this far. Thanks for the alert OP.

It's a shame it's such a catchy song! I'm not sure that, in the age of the internet, only having it on TV after the watershed will make much (if any) difference.

There was an early thread about this where it was pointed out that much as we all love to blame the BBC, they just take what the organisers feed to them.

If you want to stop this song you need to lobby the organising group.

If any has the time to find the earlier thread I think the details of who to do that is on there.

How the heck was this song allowed to be entered? Surely the organisers should have refused to allow it? Eurovision has been going to shit for years, I won’t be watching it.

Slightly revising my comment. The BBC can ask the European Broadcasting Union to block the song.

They have in the past made complaints about song titles etc..

But yes, how did the EBU allow this song to be entered.

I can’t understand how it has been allowed either. Malta was censored last year and changed their lyrics. The singer has said it is not to be taken literally but I don’t think that will wash. It is doing quite well in the odds so will probably be in the final.

So is Blurred Lines

Urgh. Signed. What posessed the Romanian judges and the EBU to approve such material for Eurovision?

Tinfoil hat, but the EBU lobbied Romania and Bulgaria to come back this year, and gave them a discount on the entry fee to avoid low numbers following Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Iceland and Netherlands deciding to boycott.

It’s Romania’s entry so they are probably scared of annoying them so much they drop out and there would be a semi final with only 14 countries competing for 10 spots in the final… which would look really bad for the 70th anniversary edition.

Either that or they genuinely don’t care about violence against women.

Dangerous and vile. Signed

No,not "always" at all.

Signed! Thanks for highlighting the petition.

IKWYM but there's a massive difference between near nakedness / simulated sex / provocative dancing / spanking, and normalising a dangerous and illegal sex act which too many women experience non consensually and feel like they 'ought' to enjoy/ tolerate. And it's nearly always men doing it to women so the song is misogynistic too.

I read (can't find source sorry) that choking during sex is the no 1 cause of stroke in women under 40. That really shocked me. I mean ofc the numbers are probably still small - but we're talking risk of DEATH/life changing injury. I don't think people realise what a risk they may be taking, they think of they only do it 'a bit' it will all be fine. And bs like this excrable song encourage it.

Eurovision seems to be for pornsick pervs these days.

20-odd years ago, Eurovision rebranded and made a conscious decision to start appealing to the male gaze and the entrants are playing along. The issue of pop music being overtly sexualised worldwide is also an influence on Eurovison that I dislike.

@IwantToRetire this was my petition and I am incredibly grateful that you shared this, and to everyone who signed it.

The petition link is here: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-bbc-airing-eurovision-content-that-normalises-violence-against-women

Strangulation is a high-risk, high-harm behaviour. I wrote an article explaining the rationale behind the petition: https://medium.com/@support2report/theres-a-eurovision-song-called-choke-me-this-is-why-it-matters-1cd1e2b9df14.

The petition hasn't taken off into the numbers I'd hoped so yesterday I worked with a collaborator to create a video to support the petition. We posted that here: https://youtube.com/shorts/XgEX9dAI-w?si=KWjJgNv26ULuwKa.

We don't have social media reach (we've only just set up). Most of the signatures so far are from other people who've signed, shared and promoted. So thank you to everyone who has shared. If anyone can help us make more noise about it on other social media, we'd be very grateful.

Thanks