After recent allegations that Hungary withdrew it’s Eurovision 2020 entry because the competition is “too gay” and would “damage the public’s collective health” the Hungarian government has come out to deny such claims vehemently. After seeing the story reported on multiple news outlets, Hungary’s Secretary of State for International Communication, Zoltán Kovács, has come out to dismiss the allegations, calling the accusations against the Hungarian government “fake news”. 

Kovács took to his official Twitter account to condemn such claims saying that no one had ever, in fact, said the Eurovision was “too gay” and that it was sensationalisation and lies from what he described as the “liberal press organ”.

What are you talking about? This is shameless muckraking, gossip from your liberal press organs. Nobody in the HU government ever said Eurovision is, in your words, “too gay.” But don’t let the facts get in the way of your sensational, liberal story line. #fakenews https://t.co/yLc0TW8CUr

— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) November 27, 2019

The original source of the claims in the media were made by journalist Shaun Walker of the Guardian after Hungarian television station said the Eurovision competition was “a homosexual flotilla” earlier on in the year and participation in the event was damaging to the country’s mental health while a source working with local broadcaster MTVA claimed officials within the station believed the contest was “too gay”. However, the MTVA has since responded to Walker stating the claims made against them were “outrageous and unacceptable.”

In a statement released by the Hungarian Public Service Media and shared in part by Walker on his Twitter, the broadcaster denied claims “that Hungary will not be attending the Eurovision Song Contest because of the high number of homosexual performers.” They went on to say that the decision had been made not to attend Eurovision 2020 as they wanted to shift the focus and keep it directly on Hungarian pop music to give support to more artists. 

https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/1200044725337804800?s=20

However, many are still speculative of the Hungarian government and this seemingly unclear response to criticism. Although in a statement from the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), the body said that it is “not uncommon for EBU members to have breaks in participation in the Eurovision song contest,” and cited Hungary’s absence in previous years, people still weren’t entirely sold on the excuse given by the MTVA and government officials as Hungary has entered every year since 2011.