Eurovision entrant uses BBC presenter’s voice after being forced to change song

Eurovision Song Contest star Miriana Conte has had to redo her song (Picture: @mirianaconte)

A Eurovision Song Contest entrant has used the voice of a BBC presenter in the new version of her song after ‘complaints’.

Malta representative Miriana Conte was due to perform her track Kant at the competition in Basel in May, after Switzerland’s act Nemo won with The Code last year.

In Maltese, the word translates to ‘singing’, however, it was claimed the BBC ‘complained’ about the entry, forcing Miriana to change the title and lyrics after it sounded similar to the British swear word.

Now, she’s used the voice of BBC economics editor Faisal Islam on the new version of her track.

Islam recently interviewed Miriana on BBC late-night current affairs programme Newsnight about having a few days left to change the words of her song Kant following a complaint.

On Friday, the contest put out her official Eurovision music video for the updated track, retitled Serving, and with similar lyrics but without the controversial word.

The video sees lots of commentators appearing to talk about her in a documentary-style, along with the voice of Islam from the Newsnight interview, giving a suggestion of how to re-do her song.

Islam’s voice says: ‘Serving brunch, maybe, I don’t know.’

The singer is representing Malta at Eurovision 2025 (Picture: @eurovision)

Earlier this month, Miriana told Newsnight she was not trying to ‘offend anyone’ and the word means different things to different people, and to her it means: ‘I’m serving singing’.

She previously expressed her frustration at Eurovision organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, in an Instagram post.

The singer wrote: ‘We’ve just been notified that (the EBU) has decided against using the Maltese word ‘Kant’ in our entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

‘While I’m shocked and disappointed, especially since we have less than a week to submit the song, I promise you this: the show will go on — Diva NOT down.’

The star was originally singing Kant (Picture: @mirianaconte)

Local media outlets in Malta reported that the BBC were the ones to lodge a complaint with the EBU.

The word ‘serving’, sometimes used with a swear word, has been popularised in the LGBT+ community and reality shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, where contestants use it to refer to stylish outfits.

Islam reacted to Miriana using his voice in her official music video with a laughing emoji and ‘well well well’ comment on X.

At the close of Friday’s Newsnight programme, they played Miriana’s music video over the credits.

Faisal Islam’s voice is now included in the song (Picture: BBC)

Last month, BBC presenter Scott Mills revealed he’d been barred from playing Miriana’s original song Kant on air because of concerns the title and lyrics.

‘We can’t talk about Malta’s one at all. We definitely can’t play a clip of it, ever, on the BBC,’ he said.

The BBC is bound by Ofcom rules, with the regulator banning the use of the C-word (which it labels some of the ‘strongest offensive language’) that should ‘never’ be used or aired before 9pm. The Eurovision Song Contest starts airing at 8pm.

This comes after the BBC confirmed that all-female trio Remember Monday will represent the UK at Eurovision 2025 with What The Hell Just Happened?.

Remember Monday are representing the UK (Picture: @remembermonday_)

Last year, the EBU faced immense controversy over the inclusion of Israel following the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 48,000 Palestinian people following the October 7 attacks, when Hamas kidnapped more than 250 people and killed 1,200.

Israeli entrant Eden Golan was asked to redo her song October Rain, which appeared to be a reference to Hamas launching an attack on Israel in October 2023, and she entered the competition with Hurricane.

The national broadcaster for Israel later claimed its delegation faced ‘an unprecedented display of hatred’ from other countries and their entrants during the competition, after weeks of artists such as Bambie Thug and Years & Years singer Olly being urged by fans to boycott.

Eurovision 2024 sparked controversy over the inclusion of Israel (Picture: Martin Sylvest Andersen/Getty Images)

The behind-the-scenes drama also saw Italy’s act Angelina Mango and Bambie among contestants speaking out about tensions off-stage.

After taking home the win and breaking their trophy, Nemo blasted Eurovision organisers and took aim at bosses, saying: ‘The trophy can be fixed – maybe Eurovision needs fixing a little bit too, every now and then.’

The organisers subsequently announced an internal review and a code of conduct that will help ‘protect’ the wellbeing of artists for this year’s contest.

Switzerland’s Nemo won with The Code last year (Picture: SPA/dana press/Shutterstock)

This year’s entrant Yuval Raphael, who is a survivor of the Hamas attacks and was at the Nova music festival on October 7, will be performing a song titled New Day Will Rise at the competition.

Following a win by Switzerland’s Nemo with the operatic-dance track The Code, the contest is being held in Basel this year.

The grand final of Eurovision will take place in St Jakobshalle on May 17, with the semi-finals on May 13 and 15.

Metro has approached the BBC and reps for Eurovision for comment.

The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final airs on Saturday, May 17, and will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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