Even Macca couldn’t win Eurovision for Britain!
Music bosses tell BBC they won’t humiliate stars with ‘nul points’...
UK RECORD labels are refusing to put forward performers for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in a backlash against ‘anti-British bias’, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
BBC chiefs have irritated music bosses with demands for them to supply talent to enter the singing competition – only for them to fare badly on the night.
The annual music contest has become one of the BBC’s most successful broadcasts of the year, with this year’s competition attracting nearly eight million British viewers.
But record company executives now believe there is anti-UK bias when it comes to the judging of artists performing at Eurovision, particularly after Brexit, and are planning to boycott the event.
It comes after James Newman, the UK’s Eurovision entry, was awarded nul points and finished in last place with his performance of Embers at this year’s contest in the Netherlands in May. The result was greeted with huge cheers by the audience inside the arena in Rotterdam, and meant the UK came last in two successive contests.
Record label BMG, which spent £25,000 to fund Newman’s entry, is understood to be among those now refusing to repeat the exercise for next year’s contest. Other major UK
record label bosses believe European countries are prejudiced against Brit
ish artists and say they ‘would not go near’ next year’s Eurovision after the way the voting panned out this year.
The boycott could leave the BBC having to discover future acts and fund their entry themselves.
One record industry boss said: ‘The truth is we could have entered Paul McCartney backed by the Spice Girls and still ended up finishing in last place. The feeling inside the UK music industry is that there is now open bias against our acts.
‘Nobody wants to go near the Eurovision any more, but the BBC are arrogantly demanding we put forward acts because it is such a ratings winner for them.
‘James Newman was humiliated last year – there was no way his was the worst song on the night. The BBC can’t expect us just to go along with their demands like lambs to the slaughter.’
Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest has long been dogged with controversy amid claims of bloc voting by countries, in particular former Soviet nations.
After the performances, each country awards points for each song – ranging from one to eight, and then ten and 12 for the best. If you come outside the top ten, you are not awarded points from that country.
The first round of points is decided by a jury of five music industry professionals in each country, and the second is awarded by viewers watching at home who can vote by telephone, text message or a phone app.
The jury announces the points they are awarding live on air. The viewers’ points are then added up and revealed at the end of the show, from lowest to highest.
This year’s victors, Måneskin, from Italy, were glam rockers who took to the stage in flared lederhosen with their nipples out.
‘We won’t go along like lambs to the slaughter’