Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has said he objects “in the strongest possible terms” to the comedy being shown in place of Eurovision and accused broadcaster RTE of an “antisemitic” boycott.
Ireland’s national broadcaster will show the sitcom’s Eurovision-themed episode A Song For Europe, where priests Ted and Dougal perform My Lovely Horse, as part of its boycott of the contest over Israel’s participation.
Ireland, Spain and Slovenia have not sent a competitor to the 70th iteration of the song competition in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, and will not broadcast the final.
Linehan has accused the Irish broadcaster of using his show as “a tool of antisemitic harassment” and demanded the resignation of the director-general.
The Netherlands and Iceland are also not sending acts to compete in Eurovision but will air the final. Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but Israel has continued to compete.
Linehan's Statement
Linehan wrote on Twitter: “Please join me in demanding the resignation of RTE’s Director General for using Father Ted as a tool of antisemitic harassment.”
He shared a link to a petition calling for the departure of Kevin Bakhurst, saying: “I am writing this petition with anger, and with grief — for what RTE has become, and for what it is doing to Ireland’s reputation.
“RTE has chosen to boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest solely because Israel is participating.
“This is not a principled humanitarian stand. It is antisemitism — the oldest hatred — dressed up in the language of human rights.
“Singling out the world’s only Jewish state for exclusion, while no such standard is applied to any other nation, meets the internationally recognised IHRA definition of antisemitism.
“RTE has not boycotted Russia, Belarus, or Azerbaijan. It has boycotted Israel. The message is clear.
“To compound this disgrace, RTE has chosen to fill the Eurovision slot on Saturday night with my show — the Father Ted Eurovision episode, A Song for Europe — as an act of pointed, gleeful counter-programming.
“I did not give my permission for Father Ted to be used as a prop in an antisemitic political gesture. I object to it in the strongest possible terms.
“This is not the Ireland I know. This is not the Ireland that gave Father Ted to the world.
“RTE’s institutional antisemitism is poisoning Irish public life, normalising Jew-hatred under the guise of solidarity, and it must be confronted.”
Petition and Response
The petition also calls for the Irish Minister for Media to launch “an independent review of antisemitism within RTE’s editorial decision-making”. It has received 700 signatures.
Alternative programming will also be shown on RTE2 during the semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday. Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times – a joint record with Sweden – with Eimear Quinn in 1996 the last Irish winner with her song The Voice.
RTE said it had no comment beyond a statement issued in December, which said: “RTE feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.
“RTE remains deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza during the conflict and the continued denial of access to international journalists to the territory.”
Earlier this month Linehan had a conviction for damaging a transgender campaigner’s mobile phone overturned. Linehan was involved in a confrontation with Sophia Brooks outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on October 19 2024. On May 1, Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples ruled his conviction for criminal damage should be overturned.
