Metro UK reports:
Israel’s Eurovision Song Contest entrant Hovi Star has spoken out about reportedly suffering a homophobic attack on a Eurovision trip to Russia. He was there to promote his Eurovision Song Contest entry, Made of Stars. The incident is said to have occurred with passport control officers and police at Moscow airport on arrival in Russia.
He spoke out about the alleged incident during a television interview in Malta where his Eurovision entry Made Of Stars is receiving a lot of support.
A video of Star speaking out can be seen below:
Metro UK transcribed Star’s remarks:
Maybe people in Moscow have a rough time with people like me, maybe because I’m gay, maybe because I dress like this, maybe because I wear make-up, I don’t know. But when I wanted to get into Moscow, I had problems with passport control. They told me I can’t go in, they looked at my passport, they ripped my passport.
‘It’s amazing that this happened in the Eurovision bubble because my song Made of Stars it talks about equality it talks about how everybody is the same, everybody was born the same, everybody will die the same.
‘Let’s take this as a lesson. I don’t take it personally, I really like Sergei Lazarov and I like Russia. This wasn’t a nice experience, we live, we learn, we continue, we smile and we give free love to everyone.’
Star reportedly had to return to Israel to renew his travel documents and says that he decided to keep the story on the down low for the past two weeks.
Ynetnews reports:
Though Star was eventually permitted to enter the country, the Eurovision performance tour was only to be in Russia for one day. The defacement of his passport meant that Star would not be able to travel using it, and the 29-year-old singer from Kiryat Ata had to turn to the Israeli delegation in Moscow for assistance.
Though approximately two weeks have passed since the incident, Star waited until now to speak about it. “I didn’t talk about it because I prefer not to attract negative stories to myself. But what happened was that the Spanish Eurovision contestant, Barei, was behind me in the line entering Russia, and she saw the whole thing. She went on a TV show in Spain and told the whole story, and she came out against Russia, saying that it wasn’t okay.
Said Star to TVM, “It’s amazing that this happened in the Eurovision bubble. My song (‘Made of Stars,’ written and composed by Doron Medalie) talks about equality. It talks about how everybody is the same.”
Star’s Eurovision entry can be seen here:
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