Graham Linehan objects 'in strongest terms' to RTÉ airing Father Ted in place of Eurovision

RTÉ using Father Ted as ‘tool of antisemitic harassment’, says Graham Linehan

Graham Linehan demanded the resignation of RTE’s director-general (Lucy North/PA)

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has said he objects “in the strongest possible terms” to the comedy being shown in place of Eurovision and accused broadcaster RTE of an “antisemitic” boycott.

RTÉ will show the sitcom’s Eurovision-themed episode A Song For Europe, where priests Ted and Dougal perform My Lovely Horse, as part of its boycott of the contest over Israel’s participation.

Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have not sent a competitor to the 70th iteration of the song competition in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, and will not broadcast the final.

Linehan has accused RTÉ of using his show as “a tool of antisemitic harassment” and demanded the resignation of the director-general.

The Netherlands and Iceland are also not sending acts to compete in Eurovision but will air the final.

Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but Israel has continued to compete.

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan (Ben Whitley/PA)

Linehan wrote on Twitter: “Please join me in demanding the resignation of RTÉ’s Director General for using Father Ted as a tool of antisemitic harassment.”

He shared a link to a petition calling for the departure of Kevin Bakhurst, saying: “I am writing this petition with anger, and with grief — for what RTÉ has become, and for what it is doing to Ireland’s reputation.

“RTÉ has chosen to boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest solely because Israel is participating.

“This is not a principled humanitarian stand. It is antisemitism — the oldest hatred — dressed up in the language of human rights.

“Singling out the world’s only Jewish state for exclusion, while no such standard is applied to any other nation, meets the internationally recognised IHRA definition of antisemitism.

“RTÉ has not boycotted Russia, Belarus, or Azerbaijan. It has boycotted Israel. The message is clear.

“To compound this disgrace, RTÉ has chosen to fill the Eurovision slot on Saturday night with my show — the Father Ted Eurovision episode, A Song for Europe — as an act of pointed, gleeful counter-programming.

“I did not give my permission for Father Ted to be used as a prop in an antisemitic political gesture. I object to it in the strongest possible terms.

“This is not the Ireland I know. This is not the Ireland that gave Father Ted to the world.

Ireland’s national broadcaster will show the Father Ted Eurovision-themed episode A Song For Europe instead of the contest (Liam McBurney/PA)

“RTÉ’s institutional antisemitism is poisoning Irish public life, normalising Jew-hatred under the guise of solidarity, and it must be confronted.”

The petition also calls for the Minister for Media to launch “an independent review of antisemitism within RTÉ’s editorial decision-making”.

It has received 700 signatures.

Alternative programming will also be shown on RTÉ2 during the semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday.

Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times – a joint record with Sweden – with Eimear Quinn in 1996 the last Irish winner with her song The Voice.

RTÉ has been contacted for comment.

Earlier this month, Linehan had a conviction for damaging a transgender campaigner’s mobile phone overturned.

Linehan was involved in a confrontation with Sophia Brooks outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on October 19 2024.

On May 1 Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples ruled his conviction for criminal damage should be overturned.