The BBC are facing calls to drop Olly Alexander as their Eurovision entrant after it emerged that the star accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The signer, who was announced as the UK’s entrant to the competition last week, signed a letter which called Israel an “apartheid regime” and criticised “Zionist propaganda”.
Alexander, 33, endorsed a statement by gay rights charity Voices4London which is “in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement”.
The statement, which was issued weeks after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, made no reference to the terror group but said “current events simply are an escalation of the state of Israel’s apartheid regime”.
Alexander, 33, endorsed a statement by gay rights charity Voices4London which is “in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement”
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Yesterday, the Conservative Party accused the broadcaster of “either a massive oversight or sheer brass neck” by selecting Alexander.
A Conservative source told The Daily Telegraph: “Letting an openly anti-Israel singer compete on the same stage as Israel is either a massive oversight or sheer brass neck from the BBC.
“After they refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation, you would think BBC bosses would try to steer clear of causing any more diplomatic blunders.”
Meanwhile, Jewish charities want Alexander, who rose to fame in pop band Year and Years, replaced for the content taking place in May.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the corporation “can and must” severe ties with the singer.
The 33-year-old was unveiled as the UK’s entrant during the Strictly Come Dancing Final on Saturday.
The BBC is planning on not pursuing further action as Alexander signed the letter from the charity weeks before he was announced as the UK’s Eurovision candidate.
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The signer, who was announced as the UK’s entrant to the competition last week, signed a letter which called Israel an “apartheid regime” and criticised “Zionist propaganda”
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The letter signed by the former Years and Years star said: “We are watching a genocide take place in real time.
“Death overflows from our phone screens and into our hearts. And, as a queer community, we cannot sit idly by while the Israeli government continues to wipe out entire lineages of Palestinian families.
“Since the violent creation of the state 75 years ago, the Israeli military and Israeli settlers have continued to terrorise Palestinian people.
“Queer and trans Palestinians have long highlighted that pinkwashing plays a significant role in Zionist propaganda.
“We stand against any and all harassment and discrimination against Jewish communities.”
“For the many queer and anti-Zionist Jewish individuals invested in liberation, this unthinking philosemitism, which hesitates to criticise an ongoing genocide out of fear of being seen to criticise Jewish people, is simply the other face of anti-Semitism.”
Petition to boycott EurovisionChange.orgThe broadcaster has to issue several apologies for its reporting during the conflict. Last month, the BBC was forced into a humiliating apology for incorrectly reporting that Israeli solders were “targeting medical teams and Arab speakers” in a raid on Gaza’s main hospital.
As IDF forces stormed into Al-Shifa hospital, newsreader Monica Miller misquoted a report about the raid which the army says is a “targeted operation against Hamas”.
Speaking about the incident in Gaza, Miller misread the report made by Reuters news agency, telling viewers: “We are hearing from Reuters that Israel says its forces are carrying out an operation against Hamas in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.
“And they are targeting people including medical teams as well as Arab speakers.”
In a statement posted to X, the BBC said: “as BBC News covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that ‘medical teams and Arab speakers’ were being targeted.
“This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report. We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation.
“We apologise for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards. The correct version of events was broadcast minutes later and we apologised for the mistake on air later in the morning.”