Ukraine wins Eurovision, world reacts

By
Mo Fanning
-
Twitter

Following Jamala‘s win at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, what better way to sum up the mood of viewers, organisers and those who took part than the Internet? For this is where every kind of crazy lurks.

First up, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). They may well be trapped in a series of ‘oh shit, really?‘ meetings, but their public Twitter feed stayed suitably bland.

Back in Ukraine, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk couldn’t wait to offer his congratulations. We’re not entirely sure, but his post probably says something like ‘thanks a lot for landing us with the cost of organising the show next year, how the feck do we cope with all the gays?’ … Probably.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also so hailed Jamala’s “unbelievable” victory with a flood of exclamation marks – “Yes!!!” he tweeted. “An unbelievable performance and victory! All of Ukraine gives you its heartfelt thanks, Jamala.”

Runner-up Dami Im showed no signs of sulking – perhaps understandable given she’ll be laughing all the way to the higher reaches of the iTunes chart while 1944 sinks without trace.

That hasn’t stopped ousted Australian PM Tony Abbott from using Eurovision to take a swipe at Russia.

“I have a lot of goodwill for the Ukraine, I think the Ukraine has suffered a lot over the last couple of decades and I think they’re currently suffering at the hands of a bully,” he told Sky News. “So if this helps their morale I think we should be prepared to accept second place.”

Third-placed Sergei was also sounding happy – especially given his song is selling by the lorry load.

In Russia, Kremlin-controlled media went into overdrive to smear the contest, with RT running a bizarre piece – “Eurovision Song Contest funded by TV license fee system that criminalizes poor people.”

As always, if you want a balanced view on the result, who better to ask than one of the ‘fans’. Here’s a fairly typical, not at all barmy, analysis from Veronica Blaze, who describes him/herself as a ‘transgender wrestler’.

https://twitter.com/Veronica40K/status/731615479601729536

Meanwhile, down at the other end of the scoreboard, Joe and Jake were noble in crushing defeat.

Fellow loser Jamie Lee manged a ‘let’s never speak of this moment‘ message:

A big old bowl of sour grapes was on the menu for self-proclaimed legend Flip Kirkorov, who did a classic ‘yeah but, no but, yeah but …‘ on Instagram.

Elsewhere, Twitter gave those quick on the quip a chance to raise a smile …

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