this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Conservative groups are threatening to block Switzerland from hosting next year’s Eurovision by forcing budget referendums on potential host cities, saying the song contest is a “propaganda event” that “celebrates satanism and occultism”.

Switzerland won the right to host the world’s largest live music event after the Swiss singer Nemo triumphed in Sweden with The Code. The cities of Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Basel have all filed applications to host the five-day spectacle.

The Christian conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, however, has said it will seek to make use of the country’s direct democracy system to put the bidding cities’ loan applications to the vote.

“The Eurovision song contest is a ghastly propaganda occasion”, the EDU said in a social media post on Tuesday. “A country that provides a stage to such disgusting trash won’t elevate its image but merely showcase its own intellectual decline.”

Samuel Kullmann, a senior EDU politician, told the Swiss broadcaster SRF his party was disturbed by Eurovision’s increasing “celebration, or at least tolerance of … satanism and occultism”. “More and more artists present openly occultist messages and underline them with respective symbols,” he said.

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[–] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago

Conservative politicians and calling the popular arts satanic: a tradition going back centuries.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 46 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well that's one way to get me interested in Eurovision.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 29 points 1 month ago (3 children)

There has been disappointingly little celebration of satanism and occultism in Eurovision so far

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

After this nonsense, next year should fix that.

Maybe with a full 19" replica of Stonehenge.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But you're not as confused as him are you. I mean, it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 1 points 1 month ago

it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

I'm an expert in being confused and would love to know where I could apply for this position

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

You should watch This Is Spinal Tap.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ireland's entry in the most recent Eurovision had explicit occult imagery, and came in 6th:

Every year there are usually a couple of performances with "dark" imagery.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Right, like I said, disappointingly little

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh I don't know... we need to save room for the campy far-out songs, the songs that build on a country's ethnic history, the techno songs with shirtless dancers, and... sigh, ok, even the ballads. I'd say Eurovision has the right proportion of "dark" songs.

[–] dactylotheca@suppo.fi 3 points 1 month ago

But our Dark Lord Beelzebub demands more Eurovision songs

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Remember Lordi, that band with the monster costumes? That's probably already too much for conservative minds.

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 month ago

lol there is no single propaganda machine that is more prolific or longer lived than fucking christianity

[–] li10@feddit.uk 13 points 1 month ago

Cancelling Eurovision is certainly one way to get me on board with right wing policy 🤔

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Switzerland... the country with the most private VPNs and email. Not for the sake of privacy, but to protect the oligarchy.

[–] casmael@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

TIL the Swiss have literally nothing else better to do perhaps they could get a hobby like yodelling, or pointing at sheep

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Or try to juggle all that Nazi gold.

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland - hating fun since it was first invented!

[–] snaprails@feddit.uk 1 points 1 month ago

They're absolutely cuckoo... #sorrynotsorry

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

What are the gonna do? send their candy canes to stop them?

[–] Cornpop@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Eurovision was wild this year lol

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 1 month ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Switzerland won the right to host the world’s largest live music event after the Swiss singer Nemo triumphed in Sweden with The Code.

The Christian conservative Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, however, has said it will seek to make use of the country’s direct democracy system to put the bidding cities’ loan applications to the vote.

Samuel Kullmann, a senior EDU politician, told the Swiss broadcaster SRF his party was disturbed by Eurovision’s increasing “celebration, or at least tolerance of … satanism and occultism”.

The Irish singer Bambie Thug’s stage show at the 2024 contest involved a devil-like horned dancer and a circle of candles containing a pentagram, which in its inverted form is a common satanic symbol.

In the final in Malmö, Nemo became the first non-binary artist to win the contest in its 68-year history with a song celebrating their identity beyond male and female gender norms.

Any referendums against Swiss cities hosting Eurovision would not necessarily swing in the political right’s favour, but the threat of plebiscites introduces immense uncertainty for planners.


The original article contains 401 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I wonder if German has one of those nice big compound words for "insane people doing something good for stupid reasons".

[–] ackthxbye 9 points 1 month ago

The closest word I can think of is Schildbürgerstreich which can mean "stupid people failing to achieve a worthwhile goal for stupid reasons".

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

There's "Verschlimmbesserung" but that's pretty much the opposite. It's a noun that describes an attempt to improve something that actually ends up making it worse. The word combines elements from two German verbs: "verschlimmern" (to worsen) and "verbessern" (to improve).

[–] match@pawb.social 3 points 1 month ago

oh shit bambie thug is gonna be there?? fucking love them

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

F off Switzerland, nobody cares what you have to say.