Shropshire Star

Eurovision 2019: How a night of banter and bondage played out on Twitter

Twitter was at it again as Eurovision returned in outrageous style.

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Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision is always one of the Twitter events of the year, and 2019’s edition was no different – with memes and moving moments alike getting people talking.

Perhaps the most talked about entry came from Iceland, and the “techno BDSM” trio Hatari, which means Hater in English.

Ahead of the contest, they said they hoped Eurovision would bring them “one step nearer to our plan to destroy capitalism”, but many were more preoccupied with their outrageous outfits.

As YouTuber Hazel Hayes put it: “Only on #Eurovision could you go from yodelling to bondage to acoustic guitar without batting an eyelid.”

Like Hatari, France’s Bilal Hassani also opted for a political message, though the delivery was somewhat different.

Hassani offered a message of unity and diversity, in a shot to the bows of homophic bullies who targeted him in the run-up to the contest.

He was joined by teenage plus-sized ballerina Lizzy Howell – herself the victim of online trolls – and a dancer who revealed herself to be deaf during the performance.

Many who were tuning in were doing so just for one person: Madonna. The queen of pop made a dramatic entrance to perform Like A Prayer, followed by new track, Future.

Not everyone was impressed.

However, UK entry Michael Rice delighted people back home with a somewhat less intense performance of his song Bigger Than Us.

Among his supporters were radio presenter Rylan Clark-Neal and former Eurovision favourite Cheryl Baker, who described him as “effing fabulous”.

Meanwhile, the best pun of the night was reserved for the Czech Republic’s performance…

A number of bold stage designs also caught the attention of Twitter’s jokers.

And once it was all over, there was only one natural response: tears.

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