Olly Alexander shares message with fans after disappointing Eurovision result
Eurovision's Olly Alexander's reaction as UK receives null points from public vote
Olly Alexander appeared to brush off his disappointing Eurovision result, as he shared a message with fans on Instagram after the final in Sweden on Saturday (11 May).
The former Years & Years singer and It’s a Sin star represented the UK with original song “Dizzy”, but ended up coming 18th out of the 25 countries competing in the final.
The annual song contest was won by Switzerland’s Nemo who scored a combined 591 points from the jury and public votes, comfortably beating Croatia’s favourite Baby Lasagna, who received 547 points.
Meanwhile, Alexander received a total of 46 points from the jury but nothing from the public vote.
Posting to Instagram the day after the final took place, Alexander congratulated Nemo, who goes by they/them pronouns, writing in a Story: “Nemo!!! You did it!!
“I’m so proud of you, it’s ben such an honour to be on this journey with you. You broke the code!!!”
Alexander referenced Nemo’s winning song “The Code”, an operatic track combining pop, industrial and techno that touched on themes of identity and self-expression.
The British pop singer was defended over the weekend by his father, David Thornton, who told the BBC that he enjoyed “every minute” of Alexander’s performance.
“To me it’s a real surprise the public didn’t sort of connect with that song, though the juries gave it a really good score,” he said.
He continued: “This is going to be a fantastic learning experience for him, he’s had a wonderful time out there.
“It’s just one more step in wherever he’s going to go next.”
The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest was shrouded in controversy due to Israel’s participation amid its war on Gaza.
Pro-Palestine protests were held outside the Malmo Arena in Sweden while the competition was taking place, while a number of contestants broke the European Broadcasting Union’s rules over “political” statements by calling for peace during the final.
There was further controversy after the Netherlands’ delegate, Joost, who was widely considered one of the favourites to win, was disqualified following an “incident” involving a member of the TV crew.
Ireland’s entry Bambie Thug, another favourite, later expressed doubt over whether they would perform after missing the final dress rehearsal due to an “urgent matter” they said they were discussing with the EBU.
They eventually came sixth in the contest after performing their song “Doomsday Blues”.
Speaking after the event, the musician, who goes by they/them pronouns, accused the EBU of turning Ireland’s delegation into “scapegoats” and claiming that the Eurovision organisers had yet to address their claims that “violence” was incited against them by Israeli broadcaster KAN.
“KAN, the broadcaster, incited violence against me twice, three times,” Bambie claimed. “We brought it up to the EBU. They said they’d follow up.
“They waited to the last minute, we still haven’t got a statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves.”
They continued: “And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won’t be able to compete because of that.
“And behind the scenes you don’t know the amount of pressure and the amount of work that we have been doing to change things, and I’m so proud of Nemo for winning... because it’s been so hard and I’m so proud of us.”
Bambie concluded by saying they believed that “we are what Eurovision is, the EBU is not what Eurovision is. F*** the EBU, I don’t even care anymore. F*** them.”
The Independent has contacted the EBU and KAN for comment.