Samantha Mumba hits out at 'rude and vile' Eurosong panel
Samantha Mumba pictured ahead of The Late Late Eurosong special. Picture: Andres Poveda
Singer Samantha Mumba has lashed out online at the Eurosong final after she missed out on becoming Ireland’s Eurovision entry for the 2025 contest.
Samantha Mumba performed the song My Way on Friday night’s Late Late Eurosong Special but lost the chance to represent Ireland in Basel, Switzerland to 24-year-old Norwegian singer Emmy and her song LAIKA Party, which is inspired by the Soviet dog Laika, the first dog in space in 1957.
Mumba criticised the panel, writing on Instagram that they “didn’t have the credentials” in her opinion.
The Eurosong panel included last year’s act Bambie Thug, television presenter Donal Skehan, radio presenter Laura Fox, and dancer Arthur Gourounlian.
Following Mumba’s performance of My Way, Fox described Mumba as an icon in her own right but said she felt the song wouldn’t do it for Ireland at Eurovision. Skehan said it was an honour to have Mumba taking part in the competition but wished the song was stronger.
“Special mention to the ‘panel’ (aside from Bambie who I stan) who not only didn’t have the credentials, experience or professionalism required and were unnecessarily rude and vile to all the finalists - my parting gift them is a bag of [aubergine emoji] to slowly choke on,” she wrote. The aubergine emoji is often used colloquially online as a phallic reference.
“Would have said this in person but they all left the green room before I had the opportunity to unsurprisingly,” she added.
Replying to a comment on her post, Mumba said she felt the Eurovision winners who featured on the show — Linda Martin, Niamh Kavanagh and Eimear Quinn, who performed Loreen’s Tattoo together — would have been better suited in the panel as experts.
“I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years, trust me that panel is nothing! There were literal prior Eurovision winners on the show- if anyone was qualified to critique the songs and performances it should have been them. Not dancers or chefs. And that’s my opinion.”
Chef Donal Skehan has responded to Mumba’s comments, saying that her comments were “completely unprofessional”.
“Each of us was chosen for our experience, insights, and passion for Eurovision,” he wrote on Instagram, citing his experience in the music industry and his lifelong love of Eurovision as relevant to the competition.
RTÉ has defended its panellists “for their professionalism, insight, integrity and good humour”.
“We are extremely grateful to the Late Late Show Eurosong panel for their professionalism, insight, integrity and good humour. Their role is to give their honest reaction to the performances on the night, offering their thoughts on the likely success of the song and act at the Eurovision Song Contest,” an RTÉ spokesperson said.
“Our panel did this in a thoughtful and considered way. It seems this was in line with the public vote that ultimately made the decision on the artist and song they wished to represent Ireland at this year’s contest. It's never easy to offer a personal opinion, as not everyone will agree. Our panel did that with the utmost care and we wish to extend our thanks to them for the excellent job they did on Friday night.”
