Ireland's Eurovision entry Wild Youth have admitted that the recent clash with author J.K. Rowling has been "very stressful".
The band sparked controversy this week after they “cut all ties” with their creative director Ian Banham for comments he made on social media regarding Ukraine winning the song contest and his remarks on a story about a convicted transgender woman.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling then waded in on the row and accused them of “preening, self-satisfied misogyny” for sacking their Eurovision creative director over his tweets.
READ MORE: Wild Youth trying to 'stay positive' - after J.K. Rowling accuses the band of 'misogyny'
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on the RTE Late Late Show on Friday, singer Conor O’Donohoe said the reason they sacked Mr Banham was because his tweets "went against what we believe in as a band".
He said: "I don't want to dwell on it too much but there's a series of tweets that were brought to our attention that kinda went against a lot of stuff that we believe in as a band.
"So we just thought it was easier to part company and go to Liverpool by ourselves."
Conor admitted the involvement of JK Rowling in the debate added another element of stress before they are due to perform on stage in Liverpool at the first semi-final on May 9.
"It's very stressful," he admitted. "I think as well because she kind of hyper focused on one thing and really highlighted one thing that we have never referenced or spoke about, and focused on that being the main reason as to why we parted company, which isn't necessarily the truth. It's not the truth at all."
"I hope it's in the past now and we can just kind of look forward to doing the Eurovision. We're here, we're very honoured to be representing Ireland our country. We're so excited to get to Liverpool and I think we just want that to be our focus.
"We want this to be such a positive experience."
After the Late Late Show audience applauded loudly, Ryan said: "That's your answer."
However, the band faced backlash on Twitter after their appearance on the show, with one person calling the sacking a "hatchet job on their teammate".
Another wrote: "The size of that elephant in the room! #latelate #WildYouth #LateLateShow."
Meanwhile one person wrote: "I mean... it's good Wild Youth addressed that but it only serves to give the author whom shall not be named more attention and screw that, frankly. The band should be proud to represent their country at Eurovision. #LateLate"
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