Music

Germany's Eurovision contestant sparks controversy

by Jeremy Mersereau

Every year, dozens of different countries vie to win the Eurovision Song Contest with entries that sound like an overproduced Katy Perry b-side. Winning the competition at the live television broadcast grants a functional economy an extremely-short-term boost to the performer’s career and bragging rights over all the loser countries. So, you know it’s a big deal, and the competition is always fierce.

First broadcast in 1956, the ESC is one of the longest-running television shows in the world, and eligible countries are already locking in their chosen artists for ESC 2016. Germany’s choice in particular caused a stir: they selected popular R&B singer Xavier Naidoo as their performer for Eurovision 2016, to be held in Stockholm. Naidoo is a well known artist inside and out of Germany, having sold millions of records worldwide, but his songs as well as his political affiliations had many questioning whether he was the right face to present to the world.

The controversy focused on two of Naidoo’s songs, which critics called homophobic and anti-Semitic, respectively: 2012’s “Wo Sind”, which many say contains lyrics that suggest homosexuals are pedophiles, and a song released just after the 2008 financial crisis, which criticized the Rothschilds and used the word “schmuck.” That’s coupled with the troubling fact that Naidoo also spoke at a far-right nationalist rally for Reichsbuerger, a group which agitates for the re-establishment of a German reich based on 1937 borders, last year.

“I find his nomination problematic,” said a rights group activist. “I know him personally. He is a nice guy. But this is not enough. He has to address the discrepancy between who he is and what he writes.” Naidoo, for his part, distanced himself from the Reichsbuerger group in a statement.

According to Billboard, Germany has now withdrawn Naidoo as their contestant and is currently in search of a replacement contender.

Germany came in dead last in this year’s Eurovision, with zero points total. Germany’s 2015 ESC entry was a song called “Black Smoke” performed by Ann Sophie, and yep, it sounds like an overproduced Katy Perry b-side. Now that Naidoo is out of the running, maybe they should go with an artist who better fits the Eurovision bill, like Babyman.

[H/T Haaretz]