Britain’s Eurovision act SuRie reveals she was injured during stage invasion
(ITV)
Britain’s Eurovision act SuRie has spoken on TV for the first time about the moment an activist crashed her performance at Saturday’s Song Contest.
SuRie, who came third from the bottom in the competition, appeared on ITV’s This Morning on Monday to speak about her Eurovision experience. She revealed that she suffered bruises on her hand and her shoulder after political activist Dr ACactivism rushed the stage.
During Saturday’s show, SuRie had her microphone snatched from her for about 15 seconds by the man.
“It was a night of surprises,” SuRie told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
The singer said she didn’t feel frightened when the activist appeared on stage, however.
“There wasn’t any time to feel fear. He was suddenly there, security was on him as quick as he was on me,” she explained.
(ITV)
“The music was still going. I was clapping and cheering with the crowd. I turned back and the microphone was on the floor and I was like, ‘This is mine.'”
SuRie was hurt during the brief altercation and said, she has “bruises on [my] hand where I was holding the mic and on my shoulder.”
But after security detained the activist, SuRie continued her performance and felt that the “the lyrics took on a new meaning: ‘Hold your head up, don’t give up.'”
According to BBC, the stage invader is thought to have said: “For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom.”
Dr. ACactivism was seen wearing a T-shirt plugging an e-book he authored, reports the Mirror.
The man’s T-shirt bore the words: “The Workings of The U.K STATE MAFIA: U.K Media,” as well as “Order this now on Amazon,” the newspaper reported.
Dr A.C’s Twitter account describes him as a “Philosopher, Activist & DJ/MC based in London.”
Earlier on Saturday, the man posted a video on Instagram in which he wore a bandana that is reminiscent of the one worn by the stage invader.
According to the Mirror, Dr ACactivsm previously crashed the stage at the National Television Awards in January, as well as an episode of The Voice last year.
The activist was detained by police shortly after the stage invasion during Saturday’s show.
Eurovision organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said that it had given SuRie the chance to perform again after the final entry of the evening. But SuRie opted not to.
“The EBU regrets a stage invasion took place during the United Kingdom’s performance at the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in Lisbon this evening. The person responsible is currently in police custody,” said the EBU.
“The UK singer SuRie and her team were offered the option to sing again but decided not to because they were extremely proud of her performance and have decided that there is absolutely no reason to perform the song again.”
On This Morning, SuRie said she did not feel compelled to perform again because she was happy with her rendition of “Storm.”
“I was really proud of that performance. You work up to that moment… you don’t get to do the 100m race at the Olympics again because your shoelaces were untied. We were very proud,” she said.
BBC commentator Graham Norton said after the performance, “Utmost respect to SuRie.”
The BBC’s official Eurovision Twitter account confirmed that SuRie is “OK.”
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.”
