Watch Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy perform with gay dancers at Eurovision
Ireland’s entry got through to the 2018 Eurovision final (EBU)
Watch Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy perform “Together” at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest – a moving ballad about a failed relationship with two dancers re-enacting a same-sex love story.
The emotional track has earned praise from the LGBT community, with O’Shaughnessy’s live rendition featuring interpretive dancers Kevin O’Dwyer and Alan McGrath. Watch the video below.
The performance shows the two dancers holding hands as they run over a bridge together, and sharing an intimate moment on a bench.
Earlier tonight, British entrant Surie’s rendition of “Storm” was disrupted when a man managed to get onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the singer, reportedly shouting “for the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom,” which temporarily halted her performance.
According to commentator Graham Norton, the singer was offered the chance to perform again, but turned it down.
Speaking about his song, O’Shaughnessy has said: “My only intention was to help people see that love is just love, and there’s no difference – whether it’s between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and a man.
“It’s so important, because not everyone is as liberal as the people in this [Eurovision press conference] room are, and the people I’ve gotten to meet over the past week.
“It’s an important thing, and I’m very proud of my country for making that change a few weeks back. I know a lot of Irish people went home to vote for the referendum on same-sex marriage, and we’re bringing a new energy back to that topic.”
But Ireland’s performance has proved controversial in countries with repressive LGBT legislation.
Chinese broadcaster Mango TV was dropped from the Eurovision Song Contest’s organising body the EBU after censoring parts of O’Shaughnessy’s performance in the semi-final on Tuesday night.
Hunan TV had held the rights to broadcast the show in China, where it is available via its online broadcasting service Mango TV.
Eurovision fans in the country say that the broadcaster censored O’Shaughnessy’s performance in its entirety.
Broadcasting guidance in China bans “abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”
Eurovision fansite ESCToday reports that the broadcaster also censored footage of rainbow flags being waved in the crowd at the event, using a crude ‘blur’ tool to obscure the LGBT rights symbol.
Countries taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest are obliged to air all entries in full, but as China only airs the contest as an international broadcaster it is unlikely sanctions can be pursued.
O’Shaughnessy welcomed the decision to strip the Chinese broadcaster of rights to air the contest.
Speaking to out presenter Rylan Clark-Neal during the second semi-final, the artist said: “I’d like to welcome the decision by the EBU to do that because from the very start we’ve said love is love… it doesn’t matter whether it’s between two guys, two girls or a guy and a girl.
“I think this is a really important decision by the EBU and they haven’t taken this lightly and I think it’s a move in the right direction so I’m happy about it.
Russia, which does take part in the contest, had threatened to block the broadcast of the performance over the LGBT routine.
However, Channel One Russia eventually aired the Irish entry unedited when it aired the semi-final.
