From the Daily Mail
- Pro-government television in Hungary said Eurovision was 'a homosexual flotilla'
- Right-wing regime pulled out of Eurovision song contest because it is 'too gay'
- Source in Hungarian public broadcaster said LGBTQ+ culture was behind move
Hungary has pulled out of the Eurovision song contest because it is 'too gay' for the country's right-wing leadership, it was claimed last night.
No
official reason was forthcoming from prime minister Viktor Orban but a
pro-government television channel said Eurovision was 'a homosexual
flotilla' and that Hungary's mental health would be better off if it was
out of the competition.
A source
inside the Hungarian public broadcaster, MTVA, told the Guardian that
employees believed the long association with LGBTQ+ culture was behind
the move.
Eurovision has long been a celebration of camp fun, with Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst winning in 2014.
'I was not surprised. It comes from the organisational culture of MTVA,' said the source.
Positive coverage of LGBT rights was discouraged, the source said, except for annual coverage of Budapest Pride.
Hungarian website index.hu quoted unnamed sources in public office that saw Eurovision as 'too gay'.
In
a statement, MTVA said: '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.'
It would not elaborate on the reason behind the withdrawal.
Since Orban started a second stint as prime minister in 2010, free speech and democracy in Hungary have been slowly eroded.
Members
of his ruling party have openly compared homosexuality to paedophilia
and called for a boycott of Coca-Cola after an advert featured a gay
couple.
András Bencsik, the editor of a
pro-government magazine, said: 'I welcome the decision, including from a
mental health perspective, that Hungary will not take part in the
homosexual flotilla that this international song competition has been
reduced to.
'Many young people thought
that this is something for people under 18, but at this event the
destruction of public taste takes place with screaming transvestites and
bearded women.'
Russia, which has
struggled with rampant homophobia, nearly left Eurovision in 2014 after a
similar call by its MPs six years after it won the competition.
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