GRAHAM LINEHAN, the co-creator of Irish sitcom Father Ted, has criticised RTÉ’s decision to boycott Eurovision and show an episode of the comedy series in its place.
The writer and activist said the showing of the 1996 Eurovision-inspired episode A Song for Europe was ‘an antisemitic political gesture’.
He has now started a petition calling on RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst to resign and for the broadcaster to apologise for its Eurovision boycott.
Along with Iceland, Netherlands, Sweden and Spain, Ireland chose not to participate in this year’s competition due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza,” the broadcaster said last September.
“RTÉ is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”
It has now emerged that not only will RTÉ not be showing the competition but has scheduled an episode of Father Ted on RTÉ 2 to coincide with the final of the competition on Saturday.
A Song for Europe sees the titular character and fellow priest Father Dougal enter the running to choose a song for Ireland to perform at the fictional Eurosong competition.
Their disastrous effort, My Lovely Horse, ends up winning, with rival entrant Father Dick Byrne saying the judges chose it to intentionally sabotage Ireland’s Eurosong chances in order to avoid expensive hosting duties.
It mirrored similar beliefs at the time with RTÉ reportedly struggling with the cost of hosting the event following successive wins.
‘Pointed, gleeful counter-programming’
In his petition, Linehan said both RTÉ’s boycott and the screening of the episode amounted to antisemitism.
“RTÉ has chosen to boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest solely because Israel is participating,” he wrote.
“This is not a principled humanitarian stand. It is antisemitism — the oldest hatred — dressed up in the language of human rights.
“Singling out the world’s only Jewish state for exclusion, while no such standard is applied to any other nation, meets the internationally recognised IHRA definition of antisemitism. RTÉ has not boycotted Russia, Belarus, or Azerbaijan. It has boycotted Israel. The message is clear.
“To compound this disgrace, RTÉ has chosen to fill the Eurovision slot on Saturday night with my show — the Father Ted Eurovision episode, ‘A Song for Europe’ — as an act of pointed, gleeful counter-programming.
“I did not give my permission for Father Ted to be used as a prop in an antisemitic political gesture. I object to it in the strongest possible terms.
“This is not the Ireland I know. This is not the Ireland that gave Father Ted to the world.”
The petition added that Bakhurst should resign immediately or be dismissed and that RTÉ issue an apology ‘for its decision to boycott Eurovision on antisemitic grounds’.
It also called for the Irish Minister for Media to launch a review into RTÉ’s editorial decision-making.
The petition, launched on Monday, has so far gathered almost 4,200 signatures and close to 1,000 comments.
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