Bambie Thug: I’m so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting behind the scenes

Bambie Thug has accused the Eurovision Song Contest organisers of not supporting them over a row with Israel.

The “ouji pop” star secured a sixth place finish in Ireland’s first grand final of the music event since 2018.

Ireland attracted the top 12 point allocation from the Australian jury vote, as well as a 10 from the UK audience as part of a total of 136 from the overall audience vote, but ultimately failed to catch eventual winner Switzerland’s Nemo.

It comes after Bambie, who has been outspoken about their pro-Palestine views, accused the Israeli broadcaster, Kan, of a rule break and said they have been waiting to hear back from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about what action would be taken.

Bambie, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, told journalists in the press centre: “So now that I’m free. I can talk about everything right?

“Yeah, so Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they follow up.

“They waited to the last minute, we still haven’t gotten statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.

“And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won’t be able to compete because of that.

“And behind the scenes you don’t know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things and I’m so proud for Nemo for winning.

“I’m so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting for this s*** behind the scenes. Because it’s been so hard and I’m so proud of us.

“I just want to say we are what Eurovision, the EBU is not what the Eurovision, the EBU is what makes this, f*** them, the EBU I don’t even care anymore.” 

They also called it “stressful” and said what the makes the competition is the “the community behind it, the love and the power and the support of all of us is what is making change”.

'Stunning performance'

Taoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Bambie for a “stunning performance and tour de force at Eurovision 2024”.

“They performed with passion, stopped us in our tracks and did us proud. The eruption of applause in the stadium at the end of Ireland’s performance spoke for itself,” he said in a statement.

“Congratulations to Switzerland on the win and well done to Sweden for hosting another showstopper. Thank you to our closest musical ally in Europe – Australia – for our only douze points!

“It’s Bambie Thug’s night as far as we’re concerned. Well done Bambie.”

Macroom celebrations

The home town of Bambie Thug last night celebrated them bringing the nation back to the grand final for the first time in six years.

The performer secured Ireland’s first qualification for the final of the competition since 2018, and finished in sixth place.

The centre of Macroom, Co Cork was transformed with a giant screen to allow locals and visitors to watch Saturday’s final together.

The town’s former mayor Connie Foley was among those who had turned out to support Bambie Thug.

He described them as being from a “very talented family”.

The performance of Israel’s entry, Hurricane by Eden Golan, was not shown on the big screen in the town.

Instead, a minute of silence was held.

Event organiser James O’Sullivan told the crowd the silence was as a “mark of respect to everybody, our friends in Ukraine, Gaza and every other part of the world that has been affected by warmongers and violence”.

There was spontaneous applause following the silence, and a call for “ceasefire now”.