Ryan O’Shaughnessy welcomes Eurovision ban for China over censorship

Ireland’s Eurovision entry Ryan O’Shaughnessy has welcomed the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to ban China from airing the singing competition after the country censored his performance because of its LGBT content.

During the live semi-final on BBC Four, host Rylan Clark-Neal said China’s Mango TV would not be allowed to show Eurovision because it has censored performances by Ireland and another delegation.

The singer landed a place in Saturday’s live final with his rendition of Together, which featured a love story between two male dancers and rainbow flags on the stage.

He told Clark-Neal: “I would like to welcome the decision by the EBU to do that because from the very start we have just said love is love.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s between two guys and two girls or a guy and a girl.

“I think it’s a really important decision by the EBU, they haven’t taken it lightly, and I think it’s a move in the right direction – I’m happy about it.”

Clark-Neal added: “This is Eurovision, it’s inclusive of every single person.”

Mango TV also reportedly censored the performance of the Albanian delegations because of visible tattoos.

O’Shaughnessy also spoke about his shock when he made it through the semi-finals to compete in the famous song contest.

Before Tuesday, Ireland had not qualified since 2013.

He said: “It was insane, what was going through my mind is ‘Switzerland have it and we don’t’ because the camera was on them.

“Then it panned over to us and our name was called out. It was insane.

“I thought we could do it all the way to that moment and I had a little bit of doubt, but one of the co-writers squeezed me and said ‘don’t give up faith just yet, we have it’ and that was it, we got it.”

The Eurovision Song Contest will be on BBC One at 8pm on Saturday.