Ireland's indie rock band Wild Youth announced in a tweet Tuesday that the band had cut all ties with creative director Ian Banham after screenshots of several of Banham’s tweets surfaced in which he was critical of gender ideology and the war in Ukraine.
“Wild Youth is a band that stands for unity and kindness,” wrote the group in a tweet. “Our song represents out 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.”
JK Rowling has called the actions of Ireland’s Eurovision hopefuls “preening, self-satisfied misogyny” after the band cut ties with their creative director over supposedly transphobic tweets including one in which he called a convicted male rapist a “man.” Perish the thought.
“We are so sorry for anyone offended by his comments,” they added.
Such comments include a reply to a tweet about Zara Jade, the violent trans-identified male sex offender who was convicted of tying up and stabbing another transgender person. A BBC headline referred to Jade as a woman, and Banham responded, “it’s a MAN! This clown world is ridiculous.”
Another of Banham’s supposed crimes was a comment in which he said Dylan Mulvaney is not a woman.
“I’ve never met a woman who acts like this,” said one Twitter user in response to Mulvaney’s Day 374 of being a woman video. “That’s because he’s not a woman,” replied Banham.
The band’s lead singer, Conor O’Donohoe, apologised with his “whole heart” to anyone who was hurt “or even had to read such horrible tweets,” adding that he “felt sick” reading them.
JK Rowling was one of many people to come to Banham’s defense, arguing that calling trans-identified rapists “women” re-traumatizes female rape survivors. Rowling called the so-called kindness and inclusivity of the band “preening, self-satisfied misogyny.”
“For those confused as to why Ian Banham was fired and publicly lambasted by @bandwildyouth, here’s one of his ‘horrifying’ tweets. His crime is standing against the insanity of pretending knife-wielding rapists are women if they say they are,” tweeted the world-renowned author and fierce defender of women’s rights.
Those were just two of a whole series of screenshots shared by the ESC Discord, a Twitter account dedicated to providing Eurovision-related news.
The thread started with a trigger warning for “transphobia” and an explanation that Banham’s statements “severely contradict the values of the Eurovision Song Contest and seem contrary to the message of Wild Youth’s song ‘We Are One’.”
In another offending tweet, Banham commented on a non-binary woman who identifies as a hawk, saying “It’s for sure a CULT!”
Banham also objected to Ukraine winning last year’s Eurovision, arguing that the decision was a sympathy vote and the prize should have gone to the UK.
“There’s a reason they call it the Eurovision ‘SONG’ contest!!!!!!!! Not Eurovision ‘SUPPORT’ contest,” before going on to congratulate the UK for winning.
Just three hours after the thread exposing Banham’s supposedly unacceptable opinions was shared, Wild Youth publicly denounced the respected choreographer and creative director.
An interview with Goss.ie Wednesday took a sour turn when the band was asked to comment on the split.
All smiles were wiped from the band’s face when the interviewer asked if they had anything to say about the decision and JK Rowling’s involvement.
“I mean, I think like, we could spend a whole day talking about that,” replied a squirming O’Donohoe. “But you know, we’re doing the Eurovision. It’s been like since from before the Euro song this has all been happening. We’ve wanted to do this for years. We want to represent our country and I just think all the focus should be just on that and hopefully the country get behind us.”
