Marko Bošnjak, the Croatian act at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, has voiced his opinion of participating countries that are currently at war.

Marko Bošnjak had the following to say on his Instagram stories, following the conclusion of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel:

“Now that this dramatic ass Contest is over, I can finally take a few moments and reflect on my thoughts and my opinions on the fairness and logic behind it all, because I do think that many things in the Eurovision Song Contest make absolutely zero sense. Especially regarding this one person who is posting things about me on Twitter regarding the statements I’ve made in the Euroclub in the smoking area, around 5 in the morning. I don’t want to justify myself, but in the next couple of stories I will just share with you my thoughts while I’m walking down the street, so we can have a wider discussion regarding all of this, because it’s very stupid to just post a Tweet without any proof, and then to try to cancel the person without having a discussion.

First of all, as someone who was born in Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina, which is also a country that went through a war, and as someone who has been living in Croatia and represented Croatia in Eurovision, which is also a country that went through a war, I am deeply aware of the suffering and the existence of the war in Ukraine, and to that my only saying is – Slava Ukraini! I really wish for all of the people in Ukraine to stay safe, and I want to thank them for giving me 8 points in the first Semi Final. I really appreciate that, and it means the world to me, and I’m only having love in my heart for all Ukrainian people.

Now that the Contest is finally over, I can finally speak my mind on it, so, it’s time for some facts. Number one fact is that Israel should be banned from Eurovision. There is no reason why Israel should be participating. Why? Because they are actively committing a genocide on Palestinian people. Number two: Russia is not in the Eurovision Contest. Why? Because they are actively doing a war on Ukraine and its people. They are actually bombing them and doing unimaginable things to them, and there is no justification for that, but in my mind if any country is participating in a war, no matter if they are on the side of the aggressor or the victim, they should not be participating in Eurovision. I know that Bosnia went to Eurovision during the war in the 1990s, and that they went out of the Sarajevo airport with snipers basically almost murdering them before they even arrived to the Eurovision stage.

Saying that countries participating in a war are often creating a complex atmosphere in Eurovision to all of the other countries, and it becomes very politicized. And as we all know Eurovision claims to be non-political and strictly neutral… We know that that’s not the case, and obviously it’s very politicized and obviously Ukraine is the winner of the first Semi Final, Israel is the winner of the second Semi Final, and I’m saying: Ok, maybe people just really enjoyed the song.

But I’ve spoken to the guys of Ziferblat, which is an amazing band and they are amazing people… I spoke with them in Madrid, and they were really concerned about not qualifying. I told them that first of all, they’re not going to be the first Ukrainian non-qualification act because Ukraine always qualifies, as they really do send awesome bangers all the time to Eurovision. I really didn’t buy their whole concern about not qualifying because, unfortunately, Ukraine has a huge diaspora all over Europe that will support their own people and their own representative.

Ukrainian people are everywhere around the world and Europe, not because of any beautiful reason, but because they had to leave their country, which is terrible. But that exactly means what it means – it means that they will vote for their country, that they will support their own people from other countries where they are living now. And I didn’t say anything that I don’t stand behind, and I didn’t say anything about: oh we have to disqualify Ukraine. If we have to disqualify anyone from the Eurovision Song Contest, that is Israel. That is Israel, point blank period. I never called for Ukraine to be disqualified, I just wanted to have a wider discussion about how the countries who are participating in a war – what kind of atmosphere do they bring to the table, because of their participation.

So, I said what I said, at 4 or 5 in the morning talking to my friend. If you overheard me and didn’t reach out to me to have a normal conversation, then it’s on you. Slava Ukraini! Bye.

And yes, regarding this whole tweet about me bashing other contestants and outing them in Euroclub… Completely true, honestly completely true. I was walking around like Silvia Night and yelling that I “hate the ugly b**ch from Poland” and the “stupid old f**k from Sweden”, and I was definitely having fun with my friends after all the pressure was lifted, and just talking shit about everybody. The Code of Conduct that we signed to be nice to each other has stopped with my disqualification from the Contest, so yes… If I was drunk, talking shit to my friends about other competition, I have nothing to say except – it’s true and add more on top of it.”

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Author: Richard Taylor

Source: ESC Bubble