In the aftermath of this year’s Eurovision, Swedish comedian Petra Mede received almost universal praise for her hosting skills and was credited with bringing back some of the fun and humour which had been missing from last year’s contest. However, one segment of the show drew a lot more attention than she probably would have expected.
In keeping with the general tone of the evening Petra had presented a light hearted history of the Eurovision, during which she explained to viewers that Johnny Logan had won the competition three times, in 1980, 1987 and 1992. Appearing alongside Linda Martin in some vintage footage she joked that he had won the third time disguised as a woman, saying, “I recognise a drag queen when I see one”. (Joke is at 1.48)
http://youtu.be/R-hv-RtRYpY
The Irish tabloids did their best to try and whip up a controversy around the incident, labelling it a “slur” and a “cruel jibe”. While many celebrities were happy to express their views on matter, Linda remained tight lipped. But after 2 weeks, she eventually broke her silence over the weekend on RTE’s “The Saturday Night Show”.
Looking every bit the Eurovision diva, in a dazzling silver dress, Martin said that the joke needed to be looked at in perspective: “I’ve been called worse things in my life, so it really didn’t bother me”. In fact, everything has worked out in her favour. “The phones started to ring and the bookings started to come in for me”, she explained to host Brendan O’Connor. “The more I thought about it, I realised if I had £1 million in my hand I couldn’t have bought the advertising”.
Later in the interview she expressed an interest in returning to the Eurovision stage, saying that she would consider competing in next year’s contest if Johnny Logan wrote her a song and Louis Walsh looked after the production.
Then to round off the night she performed her own unique take on the tune of the summer, Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”. Within minutes she was trending on Twitter, proving that she’s still got it.
The full interview is available on the RTE Player until 22 June 2013 (interview begins at 45:58)
