Eurovision's politics ban isn't for the reason you think

Most assume the ban on political lyrics began with the contest's founding after World War II. In fact the rule dates from 25 years ago, and the main purpose wasn't to keep the peace.

Israel’s rejected “October Rain” entry in this year’s Eurovision has brought renewed attention to the song contest’s ban on political lyrics. The song, submitted in February, was deemed by contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to be referencing the October 7 Hamas invasion and terrorist attack with the title and the lyrics: “writers of history, stand with me”, “I’m still wet from this October rain”, “there’s no air left to breathe” and “they were all good children, each one of them” according to reports. At first, Israeli broadcaster KAN refused to change the lyrics and indicated it would rather sit out the contest, a stance supported by the country’s culture minister. But Israeli President Isaac Herzog intervened, saying: “those who hate us seek to push aside and boycott the state of Israel from every stage, Israel must sound its voice with pride and its head high and raise its flag in every world forum, especially this year,” according to KAN. The broadcaster then agreed to negotiations, after which an altered version of the song with the new title “Hurricane” was agreed.

Eurovision’s notorious politics ban forbids lyrics “of a political nature”, and the EBU (the association of European and Middle Eastern public broadcasters) has wielded this rule against several countries over the years, including rejecting Georgia’s 2009 song “We Don’t Wanna Put In” after Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia, Belarus’s 2021 song “We’ll Teach You” which mocked anti-Lukashenko protesters and criticised Western interference, and Armenia’s 2015 song “Don’t Deny” about the Armenian Genocide denied by Turkey. In the first two cases, the countries chose to pull out instead of changing the lyrics (as Israel threaten to do). In the latter case, Armenia changed the words (as Israel ended up doing).