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Saturday, May 30, 2015

ESC 2015: booing and censorship

Let me say it like it is: now and then during the voting sequence of the final in Vienna I didn't really understand what was going on. I didn't get why the presenters and Conchita suddenly looked so stern, even less why the Russian singer was reduced to tears every time we saw her in the green room.

The next day it all fell into place as I understood the audience had been booing heavily from the moment Russia took the lead and on. On the request of Russian television, apparently, EBU and ORF had foreseen this, muted the sound of the audience and added pre-recorded cheering and applause instead.

I can agree with the live audience on one thing. Russia wouldn't be my dream choice of host under the current circumstances. I'm not convinced it would even be possible to combine this event with the present Russian legislation. But that's another thing.

Polina Gagarina had spoken up for equality, vaguely but still. She had told her social media feeds what an admirable and exceptional performer Conchita is, and defended her when people wrote nasty comments. For a singer representing Russia abroad today, this is about as far you can go. Polina Gagarina was not playing it safe and yet the audience would boo her.

Could anything she said or did have made a difference? I doubt it. She could probably have wrapped a rainbow flag around her and ended her career and still get booing in return.

I'm no big fan of booing but I enjoy censorship even less. I don't know what is the official EBU line on this, but at least SVT - next year's host - often pride themselves with being "free television" and underline the importance of trustworthy public service broadcasting.

Muting booing on political grounds, replacing it with cheerful applause, is definitely crossing a line. Altering an event, pretending that what you show is the real thing, is propaganda. It doesn't matter that this is just an entertainment show. If you start airbrushing reality in entertainment it won't be long until you change things in other areas too. To please somebody. To make somebody look better.

If public service is going to mean anything to anyone, I sincerely hope we will have more backbone and a whole lot less fake applause in the future.

7 comments:

  1. We were there for the 2 weeks and the crowd was not booing heavily (as they did last year) at all at any stage. How can you comment on something you clearly were not in attendance at? Throughout the whole live shows week Polina hardly received any boos or political questions. In the final there was literally one time when a few could be heard and they were quickly drown out by the crowd as most fans appreciated her efforts to be seen with Conchita, she posted video of her kissing Conchita and stood up to homophobes back in Russia. She was upset because she was so grateful people were cheering her and not actually booing her this year because people accepted her as an individual with a decent song and some independence and not a Putin puppet! There was no need for the fake cheers because there were bugger all boos this year.

    As for Russia hosting, they would do what they did for the Olympics, they will waive visa regs for the 2 weeks and not actively enforce the anti-gay promo to minors legislation for 2 weeks, as those are the rules EBU impose if you agree to host the contest. A little bit of research would have told you that.

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    1. I wish you'd leave your name, dear Anonymous. Would make it so much easier to discuss.

      No booing? That's not what I've been told by people who were in attendance. And if there was no booing, why did the hosts and Conchita address the matter?

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    2. It is true there was no, or at least very little, booing during her performances of the week. It was also clear that the fans and audience as a whole liked her and the song very much.

      After a few countries in to the voting though, when it was obvious that the fight would be between Sweden and Russia the fans immediately decided Russia was not a viable option, turned on a dime and started booing every time Russia scored higher marks than Sweden. Especially during Azerbaijan's 12 points the booing was very loud (this was also when the presenters adressed the audience) but it continued even after this when Russia scored higher marks.

      I'm amazed when I see the broadcast afterwards, it doesn't reflect what happened at all.

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  2. I don't think there was any booing when Polina performed the song but there was an extraordinary amount of booing every time Russia scored a high score - which actually changed to a cheer towards the end every time they got a low score. We were standing front of stage on the right. It was deafening.

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  3. According to Betty MacDonald fan club ESC fans from 40 countries our ESC 2015 TOP 3 is: 1. Sweden 2. Italy 3. Russia
    As you can see Russia got many votes from Betty MacDonald fan club ESC fans from all over the world. They like the Russian entry very much.

    What we don't understand is the result of Germany and Spain. Germany is our Nr. 5 and Spain Nr. 10.

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  4. Really well said!! During her semi, there were some muffled boos, but they quietened down. I thought that was such a good sign. But when it came to the final, I was in the standing area and noticed the crowd was more rowdy with the heightened excitement. Then sadly the booing around me for Russia was much more noticeable :( I was so disappointed. After you've experienced it, the dinned fake cheering they put on TV in the final is so noticeable!

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  5. Really well said!! During her semi, there were some muffled boos, but they quietened down. I thought that was such a good sign. But when it came to the final, I was in the standing area and noticed the crowd was more rowdy with the heightened excitement. It got me wondering. Then sadly the booing around me for Russia was much more noticeable :( I was so disappointed. After you've experienced it, the dinned fake cheering they put on TV in the final is so noticeable! Maybe I heard it more cause I was right in the thick of it in the standing area? It was really loud at points that it hurt my head, especially when 12 points rolled in for Russia.

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