It's a clip that worked devilishly.
The song chosen to represent Cyprus on Eurovision sparked controversy on the Mediterranean island on Friday, after an anonymous call threatening to "
burn down the building
" of public radio and television station CyBC and harsh criticism from religious education teachers .
Read also: In the car for Eurovision 2021, Barbara Pravi unveils her clip of
Voilà
The song, titled
El Diablo
(
The Devil,
in Spanish) and performed by Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou, was aired Wednesday for the first time by CyBC in the Mediterranean country, the majority of whose inhabitants are Orthodox Christians.
CyBC informed police of an anonymous call threatening to burn the broadcaster's building in protest, the Cypriot News Agency reported on Friday.
Police are investigating the incident.
A union of high school religious education teachers released a statement on Friday expressing "
horror
" at the lyrics of the song selected for the European competition scheduled for May, arguing that the singer "
praised Satan, dedicated her life and love to him. 'liked
'.
The union asked CyBC to give up the song, while questioning the criteria used by the channel to "
select songs of such low quality
"
“
Why is it so difficult to select artists from our island (...) who can promote our culture and our musical tradition in international music competitions?
“, Also asked the union.
CyBC responded to the attacks by explaining that the song had been misunderstood and was inspired by the “
eternal struggle between good and evil
”.
Cyprus finished second at Eurovision Song Contest in 2018, its best ranking.
Canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will be held from May 18 to 22 at the Ahoy in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
