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Eurovision hopeful John Lydon brands competition “disgusting”

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 12 January 2023

John Lydon has got his bid to perform at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest off to a good start by branding the whole competition “awful”, “disgusting” and “dreadfully phoney”.

Lydon and his band Public Image Ltd are down to the final six being considered to represent Ireland at this year’s Contest in May, with the final decision set to be announced next month.

Speaking to RTE’s Radio 1 about Eurovision, Lydon said: “It’s absolutely awful, the songs. The whole thing of it is disgusting to me. I’m a songwriter, I perform live, and these shows just come across as so dreadfully phoney to me. But look, we’re giving it a chance to break out of that mould”.

How big of him. He added that representing Ireland in the big Contest would be a “fantastic opportunity” for him, although he’s not yet entirely sure what playing at the grand final would entail. Asked what his performance would involve, he said: “I’ve no idea. Apparently, I have to do karaoke over a backing track”.

Now I’m imagining doing karaoke with John Lydon. Would that be fun? Maybe. Maybe we should reframe the question. How much would you like to be stuck in a small room with John Lydon?

Anyway, I don’t think that’s an option right now. But it is still a possibility that he will appear on the Eurovision stage in Liverpool on 13 May. Though first he must compete for the honour of representing Ireland against Wild Youth, Adgy, Connolly, Leila Jane and K Muni & ND.

They will all play on a special edition of RTÉ One’s ‘The Late Late Show’ on 3 Feb, with Ireland’s Eurovision entrant then selected by regional jury votes and a public phone poll.