Damiano David has been cleared of alleged drug use, the frontman from Måneskin whom won the contest this year came under speculation after video footage surfaced from the event held in Rotterdam, Holland during the competition’s Grand Final. Måneskin also consists of members, bassist Victoria De Angelis, Thomas Raggi on guitar and drummer Ethan Torchio. The group who hails from Rome, won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with their winning song ‘Zitti E Buoni’.
The video footage from the show’s telecast featured the Måneskin singer allegedly using drugs, the footage shows David leaning over the table with his head in a bowed position. Since the footage was released, various social media users have circulated rumours that the frontman was using cocaine. David has reputed these allegations, stating that he was picking up pieces of broken glass he found and not snorting cocaine, the frontman decided to end these rumours and speculation during the press conference after Måneskin’s victory. The band’s representatives have also announced that no illegal substances were present at the event.
The video has sparked controversy for the Italian performers as well as the Eurovision Song Contest itself with officials from the European Broadcasting Union, an organisation which provides an alliance of public service media operations, launching an investigation into the matter. The investigation also saw David himself volunteer to take a drugs test to proof his innocence.
The European Broadcasting Union have released a statement, confirming that the drug test in which David took was negative. “A drug test was also voluntarily undertaken earlier today by the lead singer of the band Måneskin which has returned a negative result seen by the EBU, No drug use took place in the green room and we consider the matter closed.“. They also added that the organisation was “alarmed that inaccurate speculation leading to fake news has overshadowed the spirit and the outcome of the event and unfairly affected the band”
The European Broadcasting Union have also backed up David’s statement that he was picking up broken glass, showed during the footage, The EBU have stated that evidence of broken glass was backstage at the event. “The band, their management, and head of delegation have informed us that no drugs were present in the green room, and explained that a glass was broken at their table and it was being cleared by the singer“
Måneskin beat out acts from all over Europe, this included UK’s entry and representative James Newman. Newman entered with famous competition with his song ‘Embers’, although the track was received with a somewhat positive attitude from the public, the song and performance earned the singer zero points, placing Newman in last place. The 35-year-old singer was set to represent the UK in the competition last year with the song, ‘My Last Breath’ but unfortunately the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far the UK has won five Eurovision Song Contests, the first win being in 1967 from Sandie Shaw with her song ‘Puppet on a String’. The next win was in 1969 with Lulu’s song ‘Boom Bang-a-Bang’, perhaps the most famous win came from Brotherhood of Man in 1976 with their celebrated song ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’. UK’s most recent triumph was in 1997 with the winning track ‘Love, Shine a Light’ performed by Katrina and the Waves.
