The decision by RTÉ not to participate in or broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel’s attendance has made it “much easier for everyone to ignore it”, according to one of the first people in Ireland to publicly boycott the competition.
However, a critic of the boycott has questioned whether it reflected “broad editorial principle” or pressure from a “relatively small but highly vocal activist constituency”.
“This is the third year we haven’t screened it,” said Rory O’Neill, the owner of PantiBar on Dublin’s Capel Street.
Other venues that used to routinely screen the contest, including the George, which celebrates its 40th birthday this weekend, have also pulled the plug.
O’Neill, who performs under the stage name Panti Bliss, said the first year “it was a big decision because as everybody knows, the gays love a little bit of Eurovision and we always used to make a big deal of the night. We’d fully decorate the place and have special guests. It was one of the busiest and most popular fun nights of the whole year after Pride and St Patrick’s Day.”
