Eurovision 2024, Satanism dished out live on TV

A pentacle surrounded by a circle of fire and two figures with an ostentatiously satanic look. This is the performance at Eurovision 2024, currently being held in Sweden, by the Irish singer 'Bambie Thug', born Bambie Ray Robinson in 1993, competing with the song Doomsday Blue. And we could stop here, since the images speak for themselves.

Broadcast on unified European networks, the Eurovision Song Contest is the continent's most popular music competition, now in its 68th edition and with the participation of 37 countries. In short, a sort of European Top of the Pops; and Ireland’s diabolic spectacle will predictably be repeated for Saturday night's final. Once again, a mass event created for entertainment purposes takes the stage to convey quite different messages.

More than a song, Bambie Thug's performance sounds like a curse, starting with the words with which the song opens and concludes, 'Avada Kedavra', which literally means 'mortal curse', promptly explained in the second half of the verse: 'I speak to destroy' and continues a little further: 'Through twisted tongues, a hex deployed on you'. The expression 'Avada Kedavra' has spread thanks to the Harry Potter saga, but its origins 'go back thousands of years and in Aramaic it means "to destroy"', she explains on twitter, specifying that 'as a child I was a Harry Potter fan, but obviously as a non-binary person' she is no fan of Rowling, referred to in the jargon as 'Terf', or... transphobic. One of the few clear things about the character is indeed non-binary. In short, it is quicker to understand who 'isn't' Bambie Thug than who she is. Beginning by pointing out that one must address neither her nor him, but rather 'they' (they/them). Which rightfully makes her an icon of the rainbow world.

Bambie Thug makes no secret of her dedication to magic in an extensive interview that reveals the many facets of the character. On the other hand, she herself claims, with regard to her music, to have coined the term 'ouija pop' (the reference is to the ouija board used for séances). The official video for Doomsday Blue opens with a 'blaze bible' (in addition to the symbols already mentioned at the beginning). In the video for the another song Egregore - a title taken from the world of occultism - she looks no less satanic, borrowed from the 'androgynous devil' Lui/Him from the animated series Powerpuff Girls and obviously played by her: 'He's also totally androgynous, which is peculiar because his name is literally a gender pronoun. But Him is also - they point out - "an acronym for His Infernal Majesty...". "And that makes him even better," replies Bambie Thug, who then confesses to a weakness "for villains in cartoons. I felt an affinity towards them. I just think that villains are always the best characters because they are so bold and quirky. They are unapologetically themselves'. Shee adds: 'People will say I'm some kind of Satan worshipper because of that'. Some doubts about this do indeed arise....

Let us return to Bambi’s passion for the occult, which emerged from childhood in a humus that mixed a magical vision of nature and Irish folklore (as well as the Lord of the Rings, much to the chagrin of the very Catholic Tolkien). "When I moved to Muswell Hill after university, I befriended a group of witchy ladies. They took me under their wing at a time when I felt lost. We meditated together and they introduced me to the crystals". What do you believe in? "I believe in energy, karma and manifestation. You can incite change in your life through your words and actions. Even if what you are trying to manifest or cast a spell for does not come back to you in the way you expect, it can cause a change within you that is still effective. Nowadays, I am also very careful with my words because words are spells'. "Words have so much power," she explains - and no one denies a priori that spiritual meanings and actions are attached to words, but what makes the difference is whether they come from above (blessings) or below (curses). In fact, judging by the lyrics competing at Eurovision, one is leaning towards the second hypothesis (should the set design with its five-pointed star not be convincing enough).

There is nothing missing from her armoury: 'I also do a lot of magic with sigils,' she says. "There are many sigils you can use, but I also make my own. The personal sigil I use seems very powerful." At this point what's missing? "I am also learning to read tarot cards and some time ago I did a Reiki course." And after so much 'spirituality', the interview ends with the cry of: "Trans rights, now!". Without doubt, this will be sufficient for certain candid progressive souls to welcome with open arms the umpteenth 'normalisation' of satanic elements, in prime time and during an internationally broadcast musical event, whose organisers deserve the (de)merit of bringing this into the homes of Europeans. But for the modern (ir)rationalist Weltanschauung, obscurantism is represented by churches and crucifixes, not by horns and five-pointed stars, all the more so when accompanied by politically correct messages...