Yahoo – AFP,
Soren Billing, 8 May 2014
Copenhagen (AFP) - Austria's bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst has hogged the limelight ahead of Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final, but things have gotten hairy for her among socially conservative Europeans, including some gays.
Austrian Eurovision contender Conchita Wurst performs for her fans in Copenhagen on May 1, 2014 |
Copenhagen (AFP) - Austria's bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst has hogged the limelight ahead of Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final, but things have gotten hairy for her among socially conservative Europeans, including some gays.
"I
created this bearded lady to show the world that you can do whatever you
want," said Wurst, the drag persona of 25-year-old Austrian singer Tom
Neuwirth, at a recent press conference in Copenhagen.
"If
you're not hurting anyone you can do whatever you like with your life and, it's
so cheesy, but we've only got one (life)," she added.
Austrian
Eurovision contender Conchita
Wurst (C) pictured with fans in
Copenhagen on May
1, 2014 (AFP
Photo/Betina Garcia)
|
However,
comments by Armenian Eurovision hopeful Aram MP3 -- one of the bookies'
favourites this year -- that Wurst's lifestyle was "not natural" have
boosted her profile, even though the stand-up comedian later claimed his
comments were a joke.
"He
apologised by saying his comments were a joke and badly translated," Wurst
said.
"I
have to say that if it's a joke it's not funny ... but he apologised and that's
fine for me," she added.
There have
also been petitions to have her removed from the competition in Ukraine,
Belarus and Russia, where a law banning "gay propaganda" was signed
by President Vladimir Putin last year.
St
Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov reportedly asked his country's Eurovision
selection committee not to send any Russian musicians to the event, which he
accused of being "blatant propaganda of homosexuality and spiritual
decay".
Cultural
divide
The outrage
highlights a cultural divide between eastern Europe and the countries of the
west, where the camp spectacle's large gay following is often acknowledged by
organisers, local businesses and performers.
Conchita
Wurst, Austrian Eurovision
contender, at the contest's opening
ceremony in
Copenhagen on May 4,
2014 (AFP Photo/Martin Sylvest)
|
Last year,
Finnish singer Krista Siegfrids courted the pink vote by entering a gay
marriage anthem.
Wurst said
her own song reflected the experience of growing up as an outsider in rural
Austria.
"It's
a story of going through bad times and struggling through difficult things, and
growing out of it and hopefully becoming a better person," she said.
"For
me of course it's so close to my life ... emotionally, growing up," she
added.
Her
creator, Tom Neuwirth, rose to fame after finishing second on Austrian talent
show Starmania in 2006, after which he joined a short-lived boyband.
Conchita
Wurst first appeared in 2011, when she made it to the final of another reality
show. The following year she came second in the TV programme that selects the
central European country's Eurovision entry.
Although
much of the controversy over her appearance has centred on eastern Europe, it
hasn't always been smooth sailing in her home country.
The leader
of the right-wing FPOe party, Heinz-Christian Strache, called her
"ridiculous" and threw his support behind another singer, Alf Poier,
who suggested she needed psychiatric help.
"If
someone doesn't know if they're a man or a woman, they should go to a
psychotherapist rather than to the song contest," Poier was quoted by
Austrian media as saying.
Armenian
Eurovision hopeful Aram MP3
sings "Not Alone" at the first semifinal
in
Copenhagen on May 6, 2014 (AFP Photo/
Bax Lindhardt)
|
There has
also been concern among some members of the gay community that her hirsute drag
persona could "scare" people coming to terms with their own
sexuality.
"A lot
of people say: 'I'm also gay but I don't need a beard and a dress to express
that,'" she said.
"I can
just say to those who don't really realise yet if they are gay or not, you
know, and a bit scared of this change: I don't want to scare them.
"I
just want to show them that they can be accepted in any way. They are allowed
to do anything," she added.
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РПЦ категорически против бородатых мужиков в платьях! pic.twitter.com/b1TLmsRI4s
— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov) 14 mei 2014
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