UK Eurovision entry Look Mum No Computer said people can “express their opinions” at the song contest, after a number of countries, including Ireland, boycotted the event because of Israel’s participation.
The musician, whose real name is Sam Battle, said he was focusing on his own act ahead of his performance in Thursday’s semi-final, despite having automatically qualified as one of the big five – the countries who contribute the most to Eurovision financially.
Israel’s entry, Noam Bettan, will take part in Tuesday’s first semi-final, despite protests against the country’s appearance because of its action in Gaza.
Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia joined Ireland in the boycott.
Asked about the impact that protests against Israel’s participation could have, Battle told the Press Association: “People can be themselves, and they can also express their opinions, and they can do that this year because the canned audience is unedited, so we’ve just got to see what goes on.”
Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Israel has continued to compete for the past couple of years despite disputes.
Israel’s 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael received the largest number of votes from the public last May, ultimately finishing runner-up to Austrian winner JJ after the jury votes were taken into account.
Two protesters unsuccessfully attempted to storm the stage and throw paint during her performance.
Asked how safe he felt as a competitor this year, Battle added: “It does feel safe, but who knows, we’ve just got to get on with it, but it feels that the security is quite amazing.
“The audience isn’t controlled, the audience participations with the microphones, they’re allowed to wave whatever flags within the sizing rules and the flammability rules and stuff, so we’ve just got to get on with it.”
The YouTube star said he wanted to remind people “why Eurovision is here” adding that it was “made to bring Europe together and make them happy post-war”, adding that he felt a duty to “keep it on the straight and narrow”.
He said a bout of food poisoning during the rehearsal stage had almost thrown a spanner in the works during his preparation.
The singer said: “I had food poisoning, couldn’t sing to save my life for that reason.
“Basically I’ve had a baby, and it was the last day before I left, and I’ve been cooking all the time, and I just messed up.
“I reheated this fish pie, and my wife said, ‘oh, this is a bit cold, can you reheat it?’. I reheated hers, made it hotter, and I was like, ‘I can’t be bothered, I’m just going to eat this’, and that was the worst decision I’ve ever made.”
Battle, who began his YouTube career in 2013 and has amassed more than 85 million views and 1.4 million subscribers and followers across his social accounts, said he wanted to compete in Eurovision having had happy memories of watching it with his mother as a child.
He said: “The first memory (of Eurovision) was when I was about five years old with my mum watching it, and I can’t remember any of the performances, but I just remember the feeling of like them all in the green room at the back.
“With a bit of smiles, bit of apprehension, just looking at the scores like they were sort of waiting for the flights at Heathrow kind of thing, I thought that was a really nice place, and I thought that would be cool to sit there, like they’re all just looking there, nobody’s really chatting.
“They’re all just sat there together, but focusing on the job at hand, and that’s like a nice social situation for a weirdo like me that can sit there.”
Battle, who is best known for his homemade musical instruments including an organ from Furby toys and a triple oscillator synthesizer made out of Nintendo Game Boy video game consoles, said it would be “absolutely amazing” to win but said he was mainly doing it for the experience.
The Eurovision grand final will take place at Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle on Saturday May 16, and the semi-finals will take place on May 12 and 14.
All three events will be broadcast live on BBC One and iPlayer, as well as BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
