Leitrim Eurovision winner to give up his win in protest of Israel’s inclusion in this years song contest

Leitrim Eurovision winner vows to give back his win in protest of Israels inclusion in this years competition.

Charlie McGettigan, who won the Eurovision competition alongside Paul Harrington in 1994 with the song Rock N Roll Kids, said that he will hand back the trophy - he has since clarified that they were not actually given a physical trophy after mistakenly saying they had been awarded one when they won the competition thirty years ago.

The news comes after last years winner Nemo from Switzerland announced he would hand back his trophy in protest to Israeli participation in the competition following the countries continued actions in Gaza.

The broadcasting companies of Ireland, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, and The Netherlands have pulled out of this years’ competition in protest. 

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Meanwhile, Seventeen Portuguese musicians competing in the country’s national selection competition said they would refuse to represent Portugal even if selected for next year’s song contest.

The announcement was made in a video posted by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) on Instagram.

“Last night, just before I went to sleep, I received an Instagram message from the 2024 song contest winner, someone called Nemo. They were saying in protest of the inclusion of Israel in the 2026 song contest, they will return their trophy to the European Broadcasting Union,” he said.

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“They came across as sincere and a very intelligent person and stated their case very well, and therefore, in support of Nemo, I would like to return my trophy to the EBU as well.”

McGettigan reiterated his belief that Israel should not be in the Eurovision this year due to their government's actions in Gaza, leading to the deaths of around seventy thousand people according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.

“It's life if during the troubles the british government said, ‘look we know there are lots of IRA people in belfast, so we will bomb Belfast and flatten it to the ground and we are bound to get most of them that way’ Well that is basically what they did in Gaza,” he told the Leitrim Observer.

He says that he would not call on other winners to hand back their awards.