Jamala has voiced her support for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest possibly coming to the United Kingdom.
Speaking to the PA News Agency earlier this week, Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala has said that the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest should come to the United Kingdom, if Ukraine is unable to host.
“It’s really sad the EBU decided to take away all this chance and all this hope. (But) I really understand that it has to be in a peaceful place for participants and for everybody. Great Britain came second in the competition, so if Ukraine is unwilling to host the event for whatever reason, it would be fair to hold it in one of your cities.”
Jamala went on to say that the decision on which country will host Eurovision 2023 is a “premature” decision, and that as a Ukrainian, the EBU’s initial decision to not have the contest in Ukraine is “very painful”.
However, despite these feelings, Jamala concludes that in the end, she is “happy” that the United Kingdom could possibly host Eurovision 2023, as runner-up Sam Ryder was “really, really, really good”.
Jamala fled Ukraine with her two young children in March. Since then, Jamala has appeared on numerous television shows throughougt Europe, has performed in national finals and performed at legendary British festival Glastonbury at the end of June.
On June 17th, the EBU ruled that Ukraine would be unable to host Eurovision 2023, as they would not be able to guarantee the safety of everyone travelling there. In response, they stated that they were in talks with the BBC for the United Kingdom to potentially host Eurovsion 2023.
Following on from this announcement, numerous cities across the United Kingdom expressed their interest in hosting next years Eurovision Song Contest, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, to Aberdeen and Glasgow in Scotland, all the way down to London, and everything in between!
At the current time, the BBC and United Kingdom have yet to accept, or not accept, the task of hosting Eurovision 2023 in place of Ukraine, and the EBU have offered no further confirmations or details of the contest as of yet.
What are your thoughts on this matter? Do you think that the United Kingdom will host Eurovision 2023? If so, which city do you think the contest will come to? Let us know in the comments below!
