Mariya Yaremchuk, the Ukrainian contestant, didn’t want anybody’s sympathy vote. No one should be taken over by another country.” “But I also feel sorry for the Ukrainians. Inexplicably dressed in a wolf suit, Anders Lundsten of Gothenburg, Sweden, said he felt sorry for the girls. In Copenhagen, however, the Russian contestants (twin sisters named Anastasiya and Maria Tolmachevy) were booed during the semifinals. So although Crimea might not, in the Eurovision universe, be Russian, it could now vote for Russia. It was unclear however, which nation that helped, since the rules of the competition prevent voters from casting a ballot for their own country. Weeks before, Eurovision organizers decided that, for purposes of the competition, Crimea still counted as Ukraine. The country’s recent incursions into Ukraine also played a role. But they were not the only reason why anti-Russian sentiment was running high in Copenhagen. If anything, those objections only increased support for Wurst, whose fans at last night’s competition took to wearing crocheted chinstraps meant, apparently, to simulate beards. Petersburg legislator Vitaly Milonov - the same one who said that gay athletes could be subject to arrest at the Sochi Olympics if they “promoted” homosexuality to minors - referred to Wurst as a “pervert” whose presence at what he disapprovingly called “Europe’s gay parade” would “insult millions of Russians.” Thousands of Belarusians also protested, signing a petition for block her from the Belarusian broadcast of the competition. Indeed, when Austria announced its candidate, several Russian organizations called for a boycott of Eurovision 2014. “It would be such a slap in the face to Russia if she won.” Though British-born and living in Holland, Christley and his partner were wearing postcards of the Austrian candidate tucked into their neon orange top hats. “We love her!” gushed David Christley, of Wurst, in the minutes before the competition started. Though any geeked-out aficionado will tell you that Eurovision is all about the music, politics has a way of slipping in. Which is precisely where things get interesting. The winner, who in the past has included pop luminaries like ABBA (Sweden) and Celine Dion (Switzerland), is decided partly by a jury made up of professionals and partly by viewers, who vote for their favorites via text message or app. Held in the homeland of the previous year’s winner, the competition, in which each nation’s contestant performs a song written specially for the occasion, is broadcast live throughout the continent (and in Australia, for reasons best understood by the Australians themselves). An annual competition that pits three dozen or so European nations against one another in a glitter-spangled maelstrom of wind machines, detachable clothing and the cheesiest tunes in pop music, the Eurovision Song Contest is exactly what it says.
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