Miriana Conte performs her song in English, but in the refrain, she uses the Maltese word "kant" – in the lyrics "serving kant". However, since the word phonetically sounds like a vulgar English word for the female genital organ, the reactions have not been slow to come.
And now, the EBU, which organizes the European Championship Song Contest, is taking action. Malta's public service broadcaster TVM must submit new lyrics to the song by March 10, otherwise, it will not be allowed to participate in this year's competition, writes Times of Malta.
British Complaint
The newspaper writes that the EBU had previously approved the lyrics, but is now taking action after complaints from the British BBC. Representatives of the British public service broadcaster have said that the song and performance in the European Championship cannot be shown on British TV as the lyrics are now.
"Even though I'm shocked and disappointed, especially since we only have less than a week to submit a new song, I can promise that 'the show will go on'", writes Miriana Conte on social media.
Lotta Engberg
The EBU has several times in European Championship history demanded changes to titles and lyrics, including for commercial and political reasons. The most famous Swedish example is when Lotta Engberg's song "Fyra Bugg och en Coca Cola" was renamed to "Boogaloo" in 1987.
Eight years ago, the EBU forced a change in the lyrics to Robin Bengtsson's Swedish entry "I can't go on". The lyrics "Fucking beautiful" had to be rewritten to "freaking beautiful".
This year's European Championship Song Contest will take place between May 13 and 17 in Basel, Switzerland.
