China Loses Eurovision Broadcast Rights After Editing Out Ireland’s Entry Over Gay Dancers [VIDEO]

The Guardian reports:

The European Broadcasting Union has blocked a Chinese broadcaster from airing the Eurovision song contest after it edited out LGBT elements from an online stream of the semi-finals on Tuesday.

Mango TV, a video-streaming site linked to one of China’s most watched channels, Hunan TV, blacked out the performance of Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaugnessy, during which two male dancers depicted a fraught relationship. The site also pixellated a rainbow flag waved during another performance.

The EBU said on Friday it had terminated its partnership with Mango TV because the censorship was not in line with its “values of universality and inclusivity and our proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music”.

Ireland’s national broadcaster reports:

Ireland’s Eurovision entry Ryan O’Shaughnessy has welcomed the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to ban China from airing the singing competition after the country censored his performance because of its LGBT content.

“I would like to welcome the decision by the EBU to do that because from the very start we have just said love is love. It doesn’t matter whether it’s between two guys and two girls or a guy and a girl. I think it’s a really important decision by the EBU, they haven’t taken it lightly. I think it’s a move in the right direction – I’m happy about it.”

The finals are tomorrow and I’ll post a live-stream.