Eurovision have revealed their decision to terminate their contract with Chinese TV station Mango TV.
The decision came after the broadcasters failed to air Ireland’s performance in Tuesday night’s semi-final, over it’s depiction of a gay relationship.
Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s performance of Together, featured a same sex relationship, which was in violation of China’s strict broadcasting rules, but the decision to edit out the song was met with major backlash, leading to the station’s contract being terminated.
In a statement tonight, the EBU said: “On the 9th of May, Chinese broadcaster Mango TV broadcast the first Semi-Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest live but two performances were censored.
“This is not in line with the EBU’s values of universality and inclusivity and our proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music.
“It is with regret that we will therefore immediately be terminating our partnership with the broadcaster and they will not be permitted to broadcast the second Semi-Final or the Grand Final.”
Following his dramatic win on Tuesday, Ryan spoke to us about the big night.
“I’m feeling really happy. I can’t wait to see my family and give my grandad a hug. I’m feeling really proud. I’m proud of my whole team
“We were sitting beside Switzerland and for a moment I thought this is it, we’re out but something inside said no, this can’t be it.
“The camera just moved over and it was us who were called out tenth. They left us till last for a reason.
“Nobody was really expecting it. We’ve been the underdog since we came into this competition and no one thinks Ireland has what we had, but we’ve always had it and we made the Eurovision what it was and we’re going to make it what it is in the future.”
Ryan believes he can take home the gold for Ireland this weekend, and hopes Dublin is ready to host the show for the eight time.
“We’re gonna win. We’re going to win it on Saturday,” he said.
“Dublin for 2019. I hope RTE can afford it!”
Ryan and his dancers will perform again in Saturday night’s grand final, and he’ll have the support of the whole country behind him!
