Russia proposes a breakaway Eurovision competition after Conchita Wurst’s victory

WILL the bearded lady’s win spell the end of Eurovision? Horror over Conchita Wurst’s victory sparks calls for a drastic Cold War-style move.

RUSSIAN authorities have proposed creating their own version of Eurovision after Europe’s premier song competition was won by a bearded Austrian drag queen who champions gay rights.

Law makers in the Kremlin-controlled parliament picked up on swelling outrage in the socially conservative country at Conchita Wurst’s triumph by proposing a Russian-based contest in which family values prevail.

“The last Eurovision contest’s results exhausted our patience,” Communist Party deputy Valery Rashkin told the Interfax news agency.

“We must leave this competition. We cannot tolerate this endless madness.”

Rashkin said he would push for the creation of a Voice of Eurasia songfest instead, which would primarily group nations from the former Soviet Union.

It is a move that harks back to Cold War days, when the Eastern Bloc held its own version of Eurovison.

The Russian Orthodox Church also slammed Wurst’s victory, saying it was an attempt to “reinforce new cultural norms” and “yet one more step in the rejection of the Christian identity of European culture”.

Russian MP Oleg Nilov took up the cause, even singing a traditional song in the duma (parliament) as a protest, the lyrics of which translate as “black raven, why are you circling above my head?”

Before the demise of the Soviet Union, eastern bloc countries performed in a rival Eurovision competition called Intervision — an event which Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed reviving in 2009.

RATINGS: Eurovision does well but The Voice wins

ANALYSIS: Conchita victory the end of Europe

The Voice of Eurasia proposal was picked up quickly by advisers to Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko — a ruler who has overseen his isolated country for 20 years and was once branded by Washington as the last dictator of Europe.

“Conchita Wurst’s Eurovision victory symbolises the complete collapse of the European Union’s moral values,” the country’s advisory Slavic Committee said in a statement. “We do not need Europe!”

Eurovision is an annual contest in which millions of viewers from across the continent vote for their favourite performers and the points are allotted by nations in which the fans are based.

The 25-year-old Wurst, whose real name is Tom Neuwirth, received most points from countries such as Sweden and The Netherlands.

“Why am I not surprised?” state television contest commentator Dmitry Guberniev remarked when The Netherlands — famous for its social tolerance — awarded its “douze points” to the Austrian drag queen.

Russia’s much more traditional love song performed by two 17-year-old identical twins placed seventh and was backed most heavily by its allies in Belarus and Azerbaijan.

But Russia has its own history of sending controversial performers to Eurovision, most notably the pop duo t.A.T.u in 2003, whose act traded on a schoolgirl lesbianism theme.

Raunchy Russians ... pop duo T.a.T.U (Yulia Volkova, left, and Lena Katina, right) represented Russia in the 2003 Eurovision song contest.

Not over until the bearded lady sings ... Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst. Picture: Ronald Zak

Saturday’s final in Copenhagen was shadowed by more than just Wurst’s facial hair — with public anger over gay rights issues and Russia’s intervention in Ukraine made clear.

Russia was booed a number of times during the final and the twins themselves were jeered while performing their semi-finals act.

A part of the Danish fans’ anger appeared to stem from Russia’s adoption last year of a harsh law banning the “propaganda” of homosexual relationships to minors.

One of the authors of the legislation proposed on Tuesday barring Wurst from even entering Russia.

Wurst’s victory has also spawned an online protest campaign in which Russian men post pictures of themselves shaving on various social networks.

Originally published as Russia proposes a breakaway Eurovision competition after Conchita Wurst’s victory