RTP's chairman says the TV station has no evidence to suggest a “boycott” of Portugal's participation in the Eurovision final with the delay in publishing the video of Yolanda's performance on YouTube. However, Nicolau Santos adds that the RTP will “try to understand” what happened, and if it detects “discrimination” it will go ahead with a “formal protest.”

In the final match on Saturday, Yolanda Costa, representing Portugal, performed with her nails painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag – previously, in the flag display, she was again wearing a dress from a Palestinian brand – and at the end of the performance she made a call for peace, saying that “Peace “He will prevail.” Nicolau Santos told Radio Observador that he had no indication that these elements – in addition to Yolanda's makeup, which, he admits, could refer to Palestinian women – could have led to a deliberate delay in publishing the artist's performance on YouTube.

Eurovision: Video of Yolanda's performance in the final with the song “Gritto” and a call for peace

As the observer wrote, the video was posted on YouTube more than an hour after the show. Posting is not instantaneous, usually taking a few minutes after shows, but in Yolanda's case the delay was later compared to other competitors.

Portugal sang after Finland, but 25 minutes after the Finnish video was posted, Yolanda's performance had not yet been posted. Shortly after, a video was posted of Armenia singing after Portugal. The Portuguese performance will not be placed on YouTube until the videos of the seven performances that followed the Portugal performance are released.

RTP – part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU, in its original acronym), which organizes the festival – is “trying to understand what happened, if it happened,” adds Nicolau Santos. [o atraso] “This was for technical reasons or for any other reason.”

He added: “At this moment I do not have information that allows me to say whether there was any intentional action Whether that happened or not,” he said, adding that if evidence of discrimination was uncovered, “And of course we will lodge an official protest“.

Anti-Israel protests, emergency meetings, Yolanda appeal and Switzerland's victory: the most politicized Eurovision story ever

The Chairman of the RTP Board of Directors does not believe that this delay in the release of the video has harmed the vote for Yolanda, noting that the artist received the highest scores from the jury of countries that are considered a musical reference, such as the United Kingdom or the United Kingdom. France (plus Croatia).

This information has not been officially confirmed by the EBU, so Nicolau Santos says he actually questioned Eurovision over a rumor that the organization had used an “anti-tinnitus system”, by adding fake applause to television broadcasts to drown out the audience. Booing was heard in the Malmo Arena during and after the Israeli actor's performance.

“For an organization like the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and for an organization like the RTP and the European Public Information Service, its mission is to fight terrorism.” Fake newsMisinformation, manipulation of information, It is unacceptable that it is possible to use a method that changes reality“, Criticize.

Nicolau Santos defends a discussion of the “weight of public voting” – because there is “no control” over whether a person has voted more than once; Because paid calls “benefit those who have more money”; Why did Israel “jump” to the top in the public votes, as it did not receive a good rating in the jury votes? He considered that “the vote was political and did not take into account the quality of the song” from Israel, calling on the festival’s executive committee to think about the matter.