The BBC has come under pressure to fire the UK’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant Olly Alexander after the Years & Years frontman signed a letter describing Israel as an “apartheid” state.
Alexander, who starred in 2021 hit series It’s a Sin, put his name to a letter from LGBTIQ+ action group Voices4 London on October 20, nearly two weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel sparked a conflict in Gaza.
The missive accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, arguing that the state’s “apartheid regime” was attempting to “ethnically cleanse the land.”
“We believe that standing in solidarity with Palestine is a queer issue. Oppression of all marginalised communities is rooted in the same violent structures – colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism,” it said.
Signed by more than 1,400 members of the queer community, the letter continued: “We strongly reject the argument that holding a pro-Palestine or anti-Zionist stance in any way promotes antisemitism. We stand against any and all harassment and discrimination against Jewish communities.
“For the many queer and anti-zionist Jewish individuals invested in liberation, this unthinking philosemitism, which hesitates to criticise an ongoing genocide out of fear of being seen to criticise Jewish people, is simply the other face of antisemitism.”
“Philosemite” has been credibly defined as a person who has respect and admiration for Jewish people, but according to a Cambridge University Press history of the word, it was invented by avowed antisemites as a sneering term of denunciation.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said Alexander should be fired from his role as the UK’s Eurovision representative. In a post on Twitter (now X), the group said: “When nearly seven in ten British Jews feel afraid to express their identity in public, he must not be the person to represent our country.”
The BBC declined to comment on the letter, but an insider pointed out that it was signed by Alexander before he was selected as the UK entrant to Eurovision, which takes place in Sweden next May.
Alexander’s rep has been contacted for comment.
