Eurovision 2018: Britain’s SuRie’s performance hijacked by stage invader
Great Britain’s performance at the Eurovision Song Contest was derailed when an invader stormed the stage and grabbed singer SuRie’s microphone.
SuRie, the UK’s entry in this year’s contest, was mid-performance with her song “Storm” when a man managed to get onto the stage and temporarily halted her performance.
The stage invader was quickly apprehended by stage hands and SuRie was able to finish her performance – and even achieved a massive standing ovation.
BBC commentator Graham Norton said after the performance, “Utmost respect to SuRie.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, if we’ll get a chance to perform again,” he added.
SuRie declined the opportunity to perform again.
The BBC’s official Eurovision Twitter account confirmed that SuRie is “OK.”
According to BBC, the stage invader is thought to have said: “For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom.”
Watch the moment below:
SuRie’s resilience after the stage invasion and mic-stealing was f***ing incredible. #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/gKUIGcFwIv
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) 12 May 2018
There was considerable support for SuRie on Twitter for showing resilience by bouncing back and finishing her performance.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted: “That was everyone who’s ever been on stage’s worst nightmare and it must have been scary, but what a pro, what a recovery @surieofficial #Eurovision”
Rylan Clark-Neal, who hosted the BBC coverage of the Eurovision semi-finals, had a more heated reaction to the invader.
“AND TO THE FILTH THAT JUST DONE THAT TO US I HOPE YOU BROKE YOUR LEG WHEN YOU WAS DRAGGED OFF,” he tweeted.
“If you’ve got a message protest by all means but don’t frighten a young woman.”
SuRie previously told PinkNews that her entry song “Storm” is “a reminder that the crap doesn’t last forever – it just doesn’t.”
“I think there are daily storms we face and there are bigger political discussions and conversations that have to happen,” she said.
“But our own personal bubbles are very important to us in that we have to deal with them day to day.”
She also said she got advice before the contest from former winner, Austria’s Conchita Wurst.
“Conchita said, quite rightly, ‘Just concentrate on the music,’” she said.
“There’s a lot of (good) fuss that happens around Eurovision – staging, styling, all of that – but the song and your vocal performance has to come first and everything else is secondary to that, so don’t lose sight of that.”
