Romania's Eurovision song 'Choke Me' has been condemned as 'dangerous' and 'reckless' for appearing to normalise sexual strangulation, a practice linked to brain injury and death. The track, performed by Alexandra Căpitănescu, repeats the phrase 'choke me' 30 times and includes lyrics such as 'I want you to choke me' and 'make my lungs explode'. Campaigners against sexual violence have accused the song of 'playing fast and loose with young women's lives'.
Clare McGlynn, a law professor at Durham University and author of 'Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back', said the song shows 'an alarming disregard for young women's health and wellbeing'. She added: 'The emerging medical evidence is that frequent sexual strangulation is giving young women brain damage.' Research last year found that over half of people under 35 had experienced strangulation, with nearly a third wrongly believing there were safe ways to do it.
Online backlash has led to calls for the song to be disqualified or its lyrics altered. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the contest, has previously ordered changes to entries containing offensive language. However, the BBC has not lodged a complaint about this year's Romanian entry, and the song remains viewable on the EBU website. Both the BBC and EBU were contacted for comment.
Defending the song, Căpitănescu said the lyrics use a metaphor for being overwhelmed by strong emotions and self-doubt. But critics argue the song exploits a trend normalised through porn culture. One health professional described it as 'super scary' and accused the entry of using a banned practice in UK pornography to 'create controversy'.
The controversy comes amid a partial boycott of this year's Eurovision over Israel's inclusion, with accusations of genocide in Gaza. Broadcasters from several European countries requested an audit of the voting system after Israel's entry finished second, amid allegations of multiple votes using European credit cards.
