Hungary pulled out from the Eurovision Song Contest ‘because it’s too gay’
Austrian singer Conchita Wurst won Eurovision 2014. (Getty)
Hungary has pulled out of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, allegedly branding the annual event as a “homosexual flotilla”.
While no official statement has been released from leaders, rising anti-gay rhetoric in Hungary is the alleged reason the country is withdrawing.
A source inside the local public broadcaster MTVA told The Guardian that media heads believe the contest is “too gay”.
The country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has emerged as one of Europe’s most powerful right-wing leaders since 2010.
Eurovision is ‘too gay’ to government officials and media leaders.
Presenting and brandishing himself as a nationalist champion to ordinary Hungarians, LGBT+ rights have stalled under the Fidesz leader’s premiership.
The Orbán administration has scuppered several pro-LGBT European Union agreements and is helming a traditional ‘family-first’ policy campaign, while lawmakers have been more and more openly homophobic.
The prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
And Eurovision’s well-documented links with the community are, according to the source, the reason the country will not compete in 2020.
They said: “I was not surprised. It comes from the organisational culture of MTVA.”
MTVA said in a statement to the broadsheet: “Instead of taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, we will support the valuable productions created by the talents of Hungarian pop music directly.”
Earlier this week, local outlets cited sources claiming that the call was likely made because the contest is “too gay”.
Hungarian government insists the rumour is simply ‘gossip’.
Amid the swelling speculation, government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács took to Twitter to address the rumours.
He called them, “shameless, muckraking gossip”.
What are you talking about? This is shameless muckraking, gossip from your liberal press organs. Nobody in the HU government ever said Eurovision is, in your words, “too gay.” But don’t let the facts get in the way of your sensational, liberal story line. #fakenews https://t.co/yLc0TW8CUr
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) November 27, 2019
In previous years, the winner of The Song would go on to become Hungary’s Eurovision entry.
However, this year the prize will be a chance to appear on various domestic media outlets as well as festivals.
