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EUROVISION

Italian Eurovision winners ‘really offended’ by accusations of drug use

The lead singer of Italy's Eurovision winners Maneskin said he was "really offended" by accusations that he snorted cocaine at Saturday's grand final, as a government minister from runner-up France said drug use should be grounds for disqualification.

Published: 24 May 2021 16:23 CEST
Italian Eurovision winners 'really offended' by accusations of drug use
Maneskin celebrate after winning Eurovision 2021 for Italy. Photo: Sander Koning / ANP / AFP

UPDATE: Since this story was first published, Damiano David of Måneskin tested negative for drug use. Find more details here.

France’s Europe minister called on Monday for “total transparency” over speculation that one of Italy’s victorious contestants used cocaine during the song contest, saying it should be punished if confirmed.

Damiano David, the vocalist for Roman rockers Måneskin, volunteered to take a drug test after video footage appeared to show him snorting something from a table backstage during Saturday’s contest.

READ ALSO: Italian rockers win Eurovision: ‘We just want to say to the whole world, rock’n’roll never dies!’

David on Monday again denied drug use, saying the footage shows him bending down to inspect a glass that his bandmate had broken.

“I feel really offended” by the allegations, he told BBC television from Rome. “I think that these kind of things are outrageous. We’re young guys with huge passion for the music and this is actually overshadowing our win.”

“We will get drug-tested and prove that it’s all speculation,” David said, adding that he was due to take a test later on Monday.

“I think there needs to be no doubt here, and total transparency,” Europe Minister Clement Beaune, who attended the show in Rotterdam, told RMC radio.

“If there is a problem, there are penalties… Provisions are made for sanctioning measures, including potential disqualification in case of problems,” he said.

French hopes had been riding high on singer Barbara Pravi, who was a favourite to win with her moody ballad Voila. But she was edged out at the last minute by a surge in public votes for Måneskin, whose song Zitti e buoni (‘Shut up and behave’) earned them a final tally of 524 to Pravi’s 499.

“I don’t want to be a sore loser,” Beaune said, but “in terms of image, we can’t let people think that such competitions can result in such behaviour.”

Damiano David, lead singer of Måneskin, celebrates with his bandmates. Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP

The president of France’s public broadcasting group, however, said on Monday that France would not contest its second-place finish, no matter the speculation over David’s backstage antics.

“France has absolutely no intention to lodge an appeal,” France Televisions chief Delphine Ernotte told the Parisien newspaper.

“The vote was quite clearly in Italy’s favour — it didn’t steal its victory and that’s what matters,” she said.

Pravi herself said she was not interested in the speculation. “What’s true is that they were chosen by both the public and the jury. Afterwards, if they use drugs or they put their underwear on backwards or whatever… it’s not my problem,” she told France 2 television on Sunday.

The four members of Måneskin landed in Rome on Sunday evening amid cheers and applause from onlookers.

The band, the first Italian Eurovision winners in 31 years, have a large following in Italy after coming second on the TV song contest X Factor and releasing several hit singles as well as a number-one album, Il ballo della vita.

Member comments

  1. I’m very pleased Maneskin won. Well done to them! And may they rock and roll for many years.

    I’m wondering if the Europe Minister, Clement Beaune, is going to apologise for his terrible remark? Of course not. (Chi fa male, pensa male!)

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CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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