Robyn Calls Eurovision 'Shit' as Broadcasters Walk Out

Swedish pop star Robyn called the Eurovision Song Contest "shit" and "embarrassing" on comedian and actress Amy Poehler's podcast, Good Hang. But the sharper verdict on the contest is coming from public broadcasters, who are quitting over who gets to stand on the stage.

The singer behind 'Show Me Love', 'With Every Heartbeat' and 'Dancing On My Own' kept it blunt. "We don't have ABBA any more so I don't really watch Eurovision. Now it's just shit, I would say," she told Poehler. She watches it with American friends, she said, and her friend Bert pulls a blanket over his eyes "because it's so embarrassing. It really is embarrassing." Afterwards she feels "really overstimulated and in a bad way." She added: "I was looking for words – I'm not going to say – but I don't like it."

ABBA won in 1974 with 'Waterloo', 52 years ago. Sweden has won six times since, most recently Loreen in 2023 with 'Tattoo'.

The Real Walkout

Robyn's problem is taste. The broadcasters have a different one. Last year, five countries (Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia) boycotted Eurovision after organizers declined to exclude Israel over its military actions in Gaza and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Spain's RTVE said it would not broadcast the contest or the semi-finals and called the decision-making process "insufficient". The EBU's decision to keep Israel in, RTVE said, "increases RTVE's distrust of the festival's organisation and confirms the political pressure surrounding it." Irish broadcaster RTÉ said its participation "remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk." Slovenia's RTVSLO said taking part "would conflict with its values of peace, equality and respect" and that it was pulling out "on behalf of the 20,000 children who died in Gaza".

The contest likes to bill itself as a celebration of unity across a continent. It took a pile of public broadcasters walking away to show how that unity gets managed.

Boycotts, Reversals and Budget Lines

The pressure hasn't eased. Ireland has already announced it won't take part in Eurovision 2027. The head of the Spanish public broadcaster has come out in favour of a boycott. The Czech public broadcaster has also pulled out, though it cited spending cuts, not politics.

Then there's the Dutch saga. Broadcaster AVROTROS announced in August that it wouldn't take part because of Israel's presence. Last month, the public broadcaster NPO reversed its earlier decision to return to the contest. The base facts don't say why. They don't have to. A decision made by a broadcaster is overridden by a decision made above it, and the contest carries on.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The 2026 competition drew 131 million viewers, down 35 million from the year before. That's a drop of 35 million people in twelve months. Eurovision 2027 is set for Burgas, Bulgaria, on 15 May, about six months away, following Dara's win in Vienna this year.

Robyn, meanwhile, has other things going on. Her ninth studio album, 'Sexistential', made Euronews Culture's Best Albums of 2026 So Far list, which called it "frothy with the Swedish singer's trademark dopamine-laden synth-pop" and "overwhelmingly self-assured".

So the artist who knows how a hit is made won't watch, the broadcasters who pay for the thing keep leaving, and 35 million viewers have gone. The organisers can keep calling it a party. The guest list is getting shorter.