Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, popularly known as "the bearded
lady," won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with the James
Bond-theme-like ballad
Rise Like a Phoenix, before a global TV audience of about 180 million people in 45 countries.
'It is just a lady with a beard. But it is like we have landed on the moon.'- René Berto, Conchita Wurst's agent
Wurst, sporting high heels, butterfly eyelashes and a full beard,
topped the Netherlands' modern-country duo the Common Linnets, who sang
Calm After The Storm. Sweden's Sanna Nielsen came in third with her new-age pop song
Undo.
"For me, my dream came true," Wurst, 25, whose birth name is Tom
Neuwirth, told a news conference after the win. "But for our society, it
just showed me that there are people out there who want to go into the
future and go on, you know, not stepping back or thinking in the past."
The Danish organizers had declared tolerance a main theme for this
year's event, and the rainbow-coloured flag symbolizing gay pride has
been flying in many places in Copenhagen during the past week.
"I hope we can change just a few minds," said Wurst's agent René
Berto. "It is just a lady with a beard. But it is like we have landed on
the moon."
Wurst, Austria's first Eurovision winner since 1966, received the
biggest cheers from the audience but also stirred controversy in some
countries.
Online petitions were started in Belarus, Armenia and Russia — whose
government passed a law last year banning "gay propaganda" among minors —
to have Wurst removed or edited out of broadcasts in their countries.
"We did it. It is the most amazing thing. But I knew she would win. I
just knew it," Austrian fan Damel Saric told Reuters. "I have travelled
to Copenhagen just for this moment."
Geopolitical tensions creep in
The Eurovision competition, which has been held annually since 1956,
was created to help foster unity after World War Two and is meant to be
non-political. But political strife slipped between the cracks at this
year's contest.
Many in the audience booed when the Russian contestants, the
17-year-old Tolmachevy twin sisters, were presented at Saturday's
opening ceremony and again when they were awarded points from other,
mostly neighbouring, nations.
It was widely speculated that Russia's entry could suffer for the
country's annexation of Crimea in March and the government's
intransigence on gay rights. Eurovision is hugely popular in the gay
community.
"The two Russian girls are sweet, and it is not their fault. But this
is a party for everybody. Russia doesn't get that," said one of the
booing spectators, a gay Dutch fan who identified himself as Xander.
Ukrainian singer Mariya Yaremchuk, 21, got huge cheers at her performance.
"It could be in the favour of Ukraine, that people vote for Ukraine
and people don't vote for Russia because they don't like the political
situation," said another Dutch fan, Patrick Van Der Ploeg.
Adding to controversy, organizers said votes from Crimea count as
Ukrainian votes, because tallies are based on existing national
telephone codes.
Ukraine's song was voted the sixth best of the 26 songs, and Russia's came in at seventh.
Since politics had played a role in the voting in the past, half the
points are now awarded by professional judges and half by the public via
phone and SMS.
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So kennen die Deutschen ,,Tante Wurst" aus der Fernsehserie "WILD GIRLS"
Hier aus 2007, singt er als "Tom" (Neuwirth):
