Musician Salvador Sobral, winner of Eurovision in 2017, criticized on Friday, December 5, RTP’s decision to participate in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, in which Israel will be present.
At the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union on Thursday, the 4th, it was decided that Israel will be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. Then, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia announced their boycott of the festival. But RTP announced that it will participate.
“RTP, the State channel, decided to participate in Eurovision even with the participation of Israel. That expression giving a nail and another horseshoe has never made as much sense as last night. National television broadcasts a concert in Gaza and at the same time is afraid of doing the right thing”, said Salvador Sobral in a video shared on Friday on the social network Instagram.
The musician said he learned of RTP’s decision on Thursday, 4th, during the ‘Together for Gaza’ concert, at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon, in which he participated and which will be broadcast precisely on public television, on the 10th, Wednesday.
For Salvador Sobral, this is an example of “political cowardice, (…) consistent with the institutional cowardice of public institutions”.
“It makes me sad because it is a simply human issue and the decision that has to be made is obvious,” he added.
According to Salvador Sobral, RTP should maintain the Festival da Canção, but the winner would not go to Eurovision and would be awarded in another way.