After Måneskin’s lead singer Damiano David hit back at allegations of drug use in the Eurovision Green Room, the EBU has now confirmed that he will take a voluntary drug test. The EBU also notes that the Italian delegation have “strongly refuted” the allegations of drug use.
The EBU issued a short statement today on the matter. They wrote:
“We are aware of the speculation surrounding the video clip of the Italian winners of the Eurovision Song Contest in the Green Room last night. The band have strongly refuted the allegations of drug use and the singer in question will take a voluntary drug test after arriving home. This was requested by them last night but could not be immediately organized by the EBU. 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. The EBU can confirm broken glass was found after an on site check. We are still looking at footage carefully and will update with further information in due course.”
The rumour had started on social media, where a clip was published showing Damiano bending over, with his head near Italy’s Green Room table.
On closer look, it is clear that Damiano’s hands were held at his sides, clenched in fists — an unlikely pose for someone about to snort drugs, but understandable for a competing artist physically reacting to the tension of the Eurovision grand final points reveal.
As well, it seems almost incomprehensible to think that someone would visibly use drugs in the middle of a televised event, surrounded by television cameras and watched by millions of viewers.
Damiano responds to press conference question
At the Eurovision winner’s press conference on Saturday night, Swedish journalist Tobbe Ek of Aftonbladet newspaper questioned Damiano about the situation. The frontman explained what had been happening during the scene captured in the Green Room:
He said, “[Måneskin guitarist] Thomas broke a glass. I don’t use drugs, please guys. Please don’t say that.” His comments were met with applause, and he went on to add, “Please don’t say that. But really, no cocaine. Don’t say that.”
The group also posted on their Instagram stories, again refuting the claim and emphasising their anti-drugs stance:
“We are really shocked about what some people are saying about Damiamo doing drugs. We really are AGAINST drugs and we never used cocaine. We are ready to get [tested], cause we have nothing to hide. We are here to play our music and we are so happy about our Eurovision win and we wanna thank everyone for supporting us. Rock’n Roll never dies. We love you.”
Måneskin are now returning home, taking the crystal microphone back to Italy.
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I barely comment but it must be done. In France we are VERY happy for Italy’s victory and VERY happy for our 2nd place since 1991, it’s a miracle that happened, merci Barbara and thanks for the support you all. I really hope that our cousins will understand that in an era when people react to pseudo polemics just so social media can be occupied and others to have clicks and audience and to create their storytelling in their sick mind that it’s not true, we are happy with our results. I hope that our cousins can keep the cold… Read more »
We love you back, a lot of people here loved Barbara as well. Bisous
This ‘scandal’ will, in time, enhance Maneskin’s success. It adds to the lore and legend, the outrageousness, the excitement that is Maneskin’s brand. He’ll prove himself with a negative test ofc, but the ‘damage’ (or free publicity) will be done and go down in both the band’s and Eurovision history. Think of all the rock bands and huge names in history who’ve not had some scandal of some sort (real or imagined) – None right? I don’t believe any of it was planned but if I were Måneskin I’d be secretly quite pleased…all publicity is good publicity at the beginning,… Read more »
I feel embarassed that they have to go through this all because a gesture, when for anyone on the ball it’s clear Damiano is not doing that. Imagine one of the best days of your life being overshadowed bc of some absurd claims (and the support given to them from some French politicians that cannot take a loss). Well done Italy, and I feel really sorry for them. Also, the Swedish so-called journalist couldn’t be from any other media than Aftonbladet of course. I bet if Barbara or Gjon’s did the same they wouldn’t even bother to think about this.
Tired of all the fake news (from pro or con Maneskin)… as JeyDelRey said before, the french minister “just said that if something actually happened, it was up to the EBU to decide if a test was necessary or not. And he said that he wanted the focus to be on Barbara’s second place and how proud the nation was.” I Don’t understand why some Maneskin fans on this blog are insulting French, while we are very happy to have finished 2nd, and happy for italy victory… So for thoose saying nonsense things about Maneskin or France, try to grow… Read more »
Probably you didn’t read the several french comments on social media (esp. Twitter) vomiting any kind of offense against Måneskin.
Some people wrote the terribile accident in Mottarone, where thirteen people found death, was due to karma. I am sure not the most of french shares this opinion but somebody definitely does…
Any time Italy didn’t win (quite a lot of times since Cutugno’s winning) it did accept fairly…
some French are insinuating that there is Karma behind the massacre of the cable car which took place yesterday in an Italian town. if the Italians accuse the French it is because it is not the first time that the French have advanced very heavy and inelegant accusations against the Italians. So, before talking about Maneskin fans, think about what your connationals says
You have to understand that it’s not about a country, it’s about individuals. Everywhere in the whole world you will find dumb people, in every country ! For every subject on twitter you will read disgusting comments form France, from Italy, Usa, Uk, everywhere ! So generalizing certain words to an entire nation is not a cleaver reaction too !
It’s like saying “Men eat, Cats eat, so men are cats !”
people saying stuff like “I don’t think he did it because his head wasn’t low enough to the table”, or “I don’t think he did it because there’s photo evidence of the broken glass”. Well I don’t think he did it because he’s not dumb. Simple as that. I don’t think Damiano David snorted on camera because he’s not a stupid idiot. You know what makes a stupid idiot though? Thinking anyone can sneak illegal substances past a security that probably doesn’t even allow you to bring your own bottled water, and then choosing to use said substances in an… Read more »
Exactly, this is the most sensible comment I’ve seen on this.
100% agree.
And worse how could you possibly do that in front of your head of delegation ???
what?
why I-
I thought some haters made this up
They did
Who volunteers to check if it’s him peeing in the cup? I kid!!! Leave the guy alone.
@Jake haha too many would for sure
I’ll put my hand up!
I am sorry that I don’t care, but I have to be honest about it. This is a music contest, not a sport. If there were a performance advantage to taking the stuff then fine, test away. But taking them in the green room after the performance is a matter for the authorities to deal with – it doesn’t change the contest’s outcome as far as I know. But there may be EBU or other contract rules in play that i’m not aware of.
I’d imagine there’s a rule against breaking the law of the host nation of the contest when competing.
Why should there be such a rule? As soon as you are in a foreign country, you are obliged to respect its law.
This is embarrassing. Imagine having your Eurovision win overshadowed by a ridiculous accusation like this. I feel sorry for Maneskin
Italians fans please do not take into consideration the few french haters. I can tell you that in France most of the people are so happy for you. We love you neighbors. Let’s spread the love and end the hate between our two lovely countries!
I love France and I’ll be rooting for you next year.
I confirm and agree
Will you apologize the moment they prove 100% that they didn’t do it? Probably not, you’ll just vanish without saying a word, like every troll in the internet.
This is crazy. This is shameful. This is totally insane. You french don’t really know how to loose.
This is so f*****g PATHETIC from you. I really hope Damiano will ask for a huge compensation to France, they’re ruining his image.
italy-france competition is so 2000s lol
I love France and French people and a few toxic comments won’t change this fact!
What…the…#&!$? Typical stereotypical nonsense. “They’re hard rockers; so, they must be on something.”
Let’s put this puppy to rest now, okay?! Rock was long overdue for a big win, and two bands brought the right stuff to draw the viewers’ attention.
Good. It sucks that it even has to be an issue for him, especially after they just won and deserve to celebrate, but at least once he does the test we can forget about it and it won’t leave any mark on their career. I wish people just did any amount of thinking before they hit the post button on the internet. To everyone who’s been perpetrating the rumor (yes, that includes some wiwiblogs commenters): having to read hateful comments about the artists for months is one thing, but when it starts actually impacting their lives – that’s the point… Read more »
I posted this under another article, but: This is social media for you, nothing but manufactured “scandals”. There is nothing to see here, and I can’t believe Damiano is nice enough to even submit himself to an actual drug test. Hopefully we get the results quickly and every one moves on from this.
Although I’m appalled that a French minister (Le Drian) also called for a drug test. It’s bad enough when it comes from nobodies on Twitter, but from a minister? Seriously?!
He didn’t call for a drug test, he just said that if something actually happened, it was up to the EBU to decide if a test was necessary or not. And he said that he wanted the focus to be on Barbara’s second place and how proud the nation was.
Yeah, there’s no way that was implied because we all know politicians always speak their mind in concise sentences with no room left for interpretation.
If you want to read into it, then please feel free to. That’s your issue. But don’t say he stated that they should do a test when he didn’t. That’s your interpretation. But I’m tired of people generalising and saying that all french are sore losers when all the people I know around me are more than happy to see us second and Italy first. We should be celebrating right now and it’s turning just into a big pointless fight.
Lol most people, even fans, will probably forget about this next year.
Let’s just call this out for what it is, which is prejudice. You think these accusations would be flying around if Gjon or Barbara had leaned over their table? No. This is based entirely on a bunch of squares freaking out that Maneskin look funny and ‘just the type.’ It’s like a primary school rumour about the kid who’s a bit different.
Maybe because Gjon and Barbara were acting sober and looking straight to the camera…
Toxic sore losers. It’s clear that he’s not doing it in the video.
Keep trying to destroy Italy’s glorious moment… It won’t work though.
This is the most stupid story and that guy who made the question in the press conference should try to make some serious journalism instead of being a silly. He certainly has the age for it. I guess he was dead sick that Sweden and the Swedish productions got so bad results this year.
He works at a tabloid magazine. Sensational journalism is what he does for a living. If I know him well enough he’s happy now to be mentioned in international contexts. He does not care a bit about the true facts in this. His newspaper cares for selling magazines and click-baits. That’s all.
This saga started by that human garbage, the reporter with the hat from the swedish Aftonbladet. swedish mafia being swedish mafia, again.
eww he is a disgusting human being.
Well I mean, yeah it was a douche move to bring it up during the press conference when they were supposed to celebrate, but let’s not look away from the fact that this whole sh*tstorm started within the community itself and toxic ESC fans that couldn’t move on from the fact that their favorite didn’t win and so they had to come up with some insane accusation. The reporter didn’t make anything up, he just talked about something that was spreading online and had them tell their side of the story.. I’m torn between appreciating them having a chance to… Read more »
I mean even if they did. Why should they be disqualified for it? I don’t think anybody has ever improved their singing by taking a line lol. This isn’t the olympics.
Exactly, especially when this happened after the performance…
Do people think they’d do it in front of thousands of people, hundreds of cameras, securities etc?
This is the most ridiculous thing to happen. This is clearly just haters being haters
Amazing how news can be manipulated and taken into the wrong context. I’m not surprised it was a Swedish journalist. Italy won, well deserved, end of and he said he wasn’t. engaged in such and action. No one is dumb enough to do this in public especially in front of 100 million, come on! , in front of your delegation and officials of RAI who are all around you and how this would impact on their own careers and their own jobs and the creditability of RAI. Further more the arena is surrounded by security, half of Mossad are there… Read more »
It wasn’t a swedish journalist. I know you’d like that but the video was well spread on social media before the winner press conference happened.
It was a Swedish journalist in the press conference who asked.
It’s all over the news. You think journalists wouldn’t report on it? In your comment you state it is a complot explicitly created by the Swedes to change the narrative.
The wimpy whiny cringy ‘Sweden bad, everybody else good’ is just upvote bait at this point. Seriously lets keep this stuff in 2021. People who repeat this stuff are the same type of people who would fall for the type of stuff populist politicians would repeat.
You can go back to the comment section here at wiwibloggs just after the finals. These allegations existed way before the press conference. But the tabloid reporter wanted to bring this story to even brighter light. His newspaper are not famous for fact checking.
I have a feeling that this rumour has got so much fuel because this might’ve been otherwise the least politically volatile edition of the contest in a long time (I know the withdrawals of Armenia and Belarus were explicitly due to political issues, but that was outside the contest proper) and so journalists are just bored.
A voluntary test when he gets home? Wow, the EBU’s posturing reaches new heights.
I wonder if he will take it whilst sitting in front of his chocolate fireguard, waiting for the tea from his waterproof teabag to brew?
Can we not just all act like grown-ups for once?
Since there’s literally no reason to think that they used any substances in the first place, it’s nice that Damiano is still willing to take a test, just so those few people who stirred drama can calm down.
Isn’t it just so frustrating that these things are even necessary? It’s not as if a lot of contestants weren’t sinking copious amounts of alcohol anyway? Are they all taking drug tests when they get home as well?
EBU should better test and investigate some jurors voting.
AMEN
The french are once again being sore losers by publishing article after article about this polemic they created and are talking as if it was proven and “The French delegation wouldn’t ask for a disqualification because they don’t want to host”.
I really hope the Italian delegation will take legal actions against the french broadcaster.
My god… you are spreading fake news as well as the rumors on twitter… Have you all foret the spirit of eurovision ?!!!
Has the french broadcaster said something? Nope, Barbara and them have congratulated Maneskin, so what are you talking about? I don’t see sore losers here.
Is France the only to report this info, nope all the europeans medias are doing this too so why you talk only about France? Moreover you can see in the press conference video from who is coming this polemic. And don’t generalize it’s the worst thing to do.
The polemic has begun on twitter during the live show by people from everywhere and even before people knew who was the winner so to say that it was created by France because they haven’t won is such a big lie. France team is proud of their results, of their placement and of Barbara.
Yea, euro community always needs to spew their hate at one country at a time. First the France got the blame and now above in the comment section this incident is alll because of Sweden!
I wonder which country will be the scapegoat of eurovision 2022? Who am I kidding probably sweden again. 🙂 God forbid having just one article without mentioning them.
Yeah I can’t agree more, look at the hatred for Belgium because of the eurovision shines a light thing last year for example and the eurofans have forgotten this quickly, it’s a weird community imo. However congrats to your country for this amazing show, The Netherlands were perfect hosts.
Congrats with the second place! Who knows it might be you guys turn in the near future 🙂
Who knows 😉 We have already the jesc in Paris this year it’s great, France junior eurovision winner 2020 and France eurovision runner up 2021 is not a so bad palmares.
I just hope this thing won’t degrade the image of France again after all the works that has been done to come back in the game and in the top.
I can already say that France won’t be very welcomed in Italy next year and if they want to win it would be without italians points and it makes me sad already.
What you’re saying is absolute nonsense. Yes, french media are covering this « story », just like any other media. But the french delegation and the majority of french people couldn’t care less if Damiano did it or not. Believe it or not, Barbara was invited to France 2’s news show tonight and the focus was on how proud the whole nation is of her ending up second. Barbara even said that Italy won because of the juries and the public and should be left alone to celebrate their victories. We are proud of her. Proud of France. And proud of Italy… Read more »
It’s just Italy and France doing well from the Big 5. Germany now and then surprise but Spain and UK, in my opinion doesn’t deserve that automatic spot in the final. Just imagine how many countries would have qualified if UK and Spain didn’t take their spots
calm down Karen! No one from the French delegation said anything against the Italian group. You’re spreading fake news just to give France a bad name. Sit downe.
One line in the chorus of Finland’s entry this year sums up perfectly the expression I have for those who’ve been spreading such disparaging filth about the deserved winners
Pls don’t ruin their mood with this non sense. Let them enjoy their victory.
And special thanks for the journalist that asked this at press conference and made the situation even bigger!!
I think that even if it was not done in a good way, he wanted to give Måneskin the opportunity to answer loud and clear and keep their honor safe.
Edit : thought it was an Italian journalist mb. So no excuse this guy did just a trash job and can’t be seen as “loving Eurovision”
these allegations are disgusting and baseless. if it was some girl in a sparkly dress bending for a second no one would say anything. to try and undermine their victory like this and ruin their celebrations is absolutely pathetic and gross and people who spread this bs should stfu and look at their and their choices. learn to lose with grace.
I feel so sorry for Damiano. You win the Eurovision Song Contest and the press has nothing better to do than to label him as a drug dealer. But it fits to the prejudices people have against rock bands, doesn’t it? Really disgusting in my opinion.
Just get it over with. So we cant finally stop talking about it
As if your favorite artists never snort some questionable powders. Just stop, even if it’s true, like, you all listen to artists that are snorting stuff. Most of them do or did that. And nobody canceled them.
Disgusting they even need to prove it…
I cannot believe their best moment is being ruined by such ridicolous “scandal” ….
What a ridiculously stupid story created by weird people
Ffs, this has got to be the stupidest scandal I’ve ever seen at Eurovision.