Wild Youth have revealed the response to them parting ways with their creative director Ian Banham has been “very stressful” in the lead up to the Eurovision.
The Irish band, who are representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest next month, “cut all ties” with the choreographer earlier this week after a series of controversial tweets he allegedly posted came to light.
JK Rowling later weighed in on the situation on Twitter, using the hashtag #IStandWithIanBanham as she claimed the “so-called kindness and inclusivity of @bandwildyouth is preening, self-satisfied misogyny”.
The re-traumatisation of female rape survivors, including this man’s victims, on seeing him called a woman by the press counts for nothing, naturally. The so-called kindness and inclusivity of @bandwildyouth is preening, self-satisfied misogyny. #IStandWithIanBanham https://t.co/f5pamvYUrP pic.twitter.com/CuILreP7cC
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 26, 2023
During their appearance on The Late Late Show on Friday night, host Ryan Tubridy asked the band to explain what happened.
Lead singer Conor O Donohue said: “I mean we don’t want to dwell on it too much, but there was a series of tweets that were brought to our attention that went against a lot of the stuff that we believe in as a band, so we just thought it was easier to part company and just go to Liverpool by ourselves.”
After Ryan cited JK Rowling’s tweet, the TV presenter asked if the situation has made the lead up to the Eurovision “more stressful”.
Conor replied: “Well yeah, it’s very stressful. I think as well because she kind of hyper focused on one thing, and really highlighted one thing that we’ve never referenced or spoke about, and focused on that being the main reason as to why we parted company… which is not the truth at all.”
“But I hope it’s in the past now and we can look forward to doing the Eurovision.”
“We’re very honoured to be representing our country, we’re so excited to get to Liverpool, and I think we just want that to be our focus. We want this to be a positive experience,” he added.
The band announced they had parted ways with Ian in a statement shared to Twitter on Tuesday, which read: “Wild Youth is a band that stands for unity and kindness. Our song represents our beliefs as a band.”
“We have cut all ties with Ian Banham and will not have him on or near our team or Eurovision journey. We are so sorry for anyone offended by his comments ❤️.”
Conor also released a separate statement to apologise to “anyone who has been hurt or even had to read such horrible tweets”.
“He goes against everything I stand for, his tweets make me feel sick reading them. Writing this song and writing these lyrics was writing about what I believe in,” he wrote.
“Acceptance Unity and kindness. Ian will have nothing to do with Wild Youth on our eurovison journey. Again from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry to anybody who had to read these tweets and was effected by them.”
RTÉ later confirmed Ian is no longer part of Ireland’s Eurovision 2023 team.
Ian has worked as a choreographer on RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars for years, and has previously worked with well-known acts such as Westlife, Nathan Carter and Walking on Cars.
The choreographer has also worked on TV series including Dancing on Ice, Got To Dance and So You Think You Can Dance.
Wild Youth will represent Ireland at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Liverpool next month.
The band will perform their song We Are One during the first semi-final, which takes place on Tuesday, May 9.
The foursome is made up of Conor O’Donohue, David Whelan, Ed Porter and Callum McAdam.
