Hungary's right-wing government has
announced that it will not participate in next year's Eurovision song
contest.
According to The Guardian, the
government gave no official reason for the withdrawal. But the outlet
reported that the move comes amid an increase in anti-LGBT rhetoric.
Employees at MTVA, Hungary's
pro-government television channel, assumed the decision to pull out
of the annual contest was motivated by anti-LGBT bias.
An unnamed source told Hungarian
website Index.hu that the government deemed Eurovision “too gay.”
A government spokesman decried the
Index.hu story as “fake news” on Twitter but offered no details.
Appearing on pro-government television,
journalist and newspaper editor András
Bencsik, said that he welcomed the withdrawal from the “homosexual
flotilla” Eurovision song contest because it would improve the
mental health of the nation.
“I welcome the decision, including
from a mental health perspective, that Hungary will not take part in
the homosexual flotilla that his international song competition has
been reduced to,” said
Bencsik.
“Many young people thought that this
is something for people under 18, but at this event the destruction
of public taste takes place with screaming transvestites and bearded
women,” he added.
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán
has instituted a “family first” policy and is opposed to same-sex
marriage.