China’s increased interest in the Eurovision Song Contest has in recent years seen further collaborations with the EBU and Chinese broadcasters, having hosted a Chinese delegation at the contest for the first time in 2015 in Vienna, where Hunan TV were granted the rights to broadcast the contest.
However, this year, it seems things had gone a little sour between the Chinese broadcaster Mango TV and the EBU. It was widely reported after Tuesday’s first semi-final that the broadcast was heavily compromised on the channel, with the full performances of Albania (tattoos) and Ireland (LGBT themes) cut and the performance of Switzerland also heavily censored, as well as the censorship of rainbow flags.
Following this news, the EBU have this afternoon released a statement shortly before the second semi-final that their partnership with Mango TV would be terminated, effective immediately.
The statement confirms that the censorship of these performances is “not in line with the EBU’s values of universality and inclusivity and our proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music.”
Source: EBU
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