Samantha Mumba has hit out at judges after coming as runner-up to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2025, calling them “unnecessarily rude”.
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The singer came second with her track My Way, and she criticised some members of the panel for lacking “credentials” and said some were “unnecessarily rude”.
EMMY has been selected to represent Ireland in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, and she will perform her track Laika Party. It is a tribute to the dog Laika who became the first animal in space when launched there by the Soviet Union in 1957.
The competition to become Ireland’s representative took place on Friday (February 7), and each of the judges gave their comments on each performance during the competition on The Late Late Show on Irish broadcaster RTÉ on Friday night.
One of the judges, choreographer and Irish Dancing with the Stars judge Arthur Gourounlian, said about Mumba’s performance:”It was very long to start. It felt like 10 different demos put together in one song. The vocals were there but I couldn’t relate at all.”
2FM broadcaster Laura Fox added: “[Mumba] is an icon in her own right, I would play her music anytime. As we know Eurovision is its own beast in itself. I just think that My Way might be a little too slow to get into it.”
Other judges included chef and TV presenter Donal Skehan and Bambie Thug, who represented Ireland last year.
Mumba then took to Instagram and thanked fans for their support. She then wrote: “Those that got it, GOT IT… and those that didn’t, that’s OK too. It’s my art, and I stand by it.”
She said the panel, apart from Bambie Thug, didn’t have the “credentials” and experience required and were “unnecessarily rude” to all the finalists.
Skehan responded to Mumba’s allegations, saying: “It might be easy to write me off as just a TV chef, but my career began in music.”
He continued: “My comments were never personal. They were about what would give Ireland the best chance of success on the Eurovision stage.”
As the BBC reports, in response to Mumba’s comments, RTÉ defended the participation of the four judges.
A spokesperson said: “We are extremely grateful to The Late Late Show Eurosong panel for their professionalism, insight, integrity and good humour.
“Their role is to give their honest reaction to the performances on the night, offering their thoughts on the likely success of the song and act at the Eurovision Song Contest.
“Our panel did this in a thoughtful and considered way. It seems this was in line with the public vote that ultimately made the decision on the artist and song they wished to represent Ireland at this year’s contest.
“It’s never easy to offer a personal opinion, as not everyone will agree. Our panel did that with the utmost care and we wish to extend our thanks to them for the excellent job they did on Friday night.”
2025 Eurovision will be held in Basel, Switzerland – following the victory of Nemo at this year’s event with their track ‘The Code’. It marked the nation’s first win since 1988, as well as the first-ever non-binary winner of Eurovision.
Back in October it was announced by the BBC that Sam Ryder’s manager has been recruited to help find the contestant that will represent the UK at Eurovision 2025. This comes as Ryder pulled the most impressive results in recent memory for the UK back in 2022 – coming in second place, just behind Ukraine.
Eurovision 2024 broke global viewing figures despite protests over the inclusion of Israel at this year’s event amid the war in Gaza. According to figures from the EBU, 163 million viewers tuned into the three live events including the Grand Final.
Olly Alexander performed the song ‘Dizzy’ at the competition and finished 18th out of 25 countries. He earned just 46 points from the jury, but none from the voting public.