Ireland: Wild Youth cut ties with their creative director over ‘transphobic’ tweets!
With just two weeks to go until Eurovision Ireland’s act Wild Youth have decided to stop working with their creative director.
The termination of the relationship between Wild Youth and Ian Banham came after screen grabs, said to have been taken from his account, began circulating on Twitter with what could be considered offensive messaging. The tweets allegedly referred to transgender women as men.
In a statement posted on Twitter the band wrote: ‘Wild Youth is a band that stands for unity and kindness. Our song represents our beliefs as a band. We have cut all ties with Ian Banham and will not have him on or near our team or Eurovision journey. We are so sorry for anyone offended by his comments.
This comes after Eurovision Discord, who usually remain anonymous and share news from the music competition, publicly condemned the appointment.
TW: transphobia
We have recently been made aware of statements by Ireland’s creative director Ian Banham that severely contradict the values of the Eurovision Song Contest and seem contrary to the message of Wild Youth’s song “We Are One”. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/V23Brgk2DK
— ESC Discord (@ESCdiscord) April 25, 2023
According to Ian’s website he has worked with Lily Allen, Kylie Minogue, Katya Jones, Cheryl and Westlife. He also works as a choreographer and creative on Dancing With The Stars in Ireland.
Ireland will perform at the first semi-final on May 9.
