Well, he didn’t do this during Tuesday’s semi-final.
However, on Saturday – and following his stellar performance of Together – Ryan O’Shaughnessy had a powerful, two-fingers message for the thousands of spectators gathered in Lisbon, as well as an estimated 200m TV viewers around the world.
The Dublin singer proudly said: “Love is love.” And understandably his sentiment sent the crowd wild in Lisbon.
We love you, Ryan!
Ireland's Ryan O'Shaughnessy at the end of his song: "Love is Love." #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/Wm7c5FAWYG
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 12, 2018
Dubliner Ryan’s defiant statement was said in response to China hugely controversial censoring of his semi-final performance; the European Broadcasting Union banned China from showing the Song Contest final as a result.
Thank you #IRL and thank you EBU for standing up to homophobic, paranoid nonsense. Love is Love. 🌈 #Eurovision ☘️
— Seb Dance (@SebDance) May 12, 2018
China had blocked Ireland’s act because of its same-sex story-line (ah here, lads!).
Still, that controversy certainly hasn’t impacted on Ryan’s popularity – plenty of folk are citing him as a potential winner.
1. Ireland
2. Portugal
3. ItalyYou?#eurovision
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) May 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/badrepbas/status/995417449251135489
https://twitter.com/quitcolleen/status/995417442603151360
People I love and want to win:
1.Ireland
2. Moldovia
3.I missed the old guy with the recorder but i dont need to know anything else i love himBut also 1. GRAHAM#Eurovision
— pinguhead 🍉 (@TheDobletOfFire) May 12, 2018
#Eurovision top 4!#Ireland#Israel #Hungary#CzechRepublic
— Genie ⭕️ (@Genexican) May 12, 2018
Top Five:
1. Ireland #IRL
2. Sweden #SWD
3. Finland #FIN
4. Israel #ISR
5. España #ESP#Eurovision— Chus Lampreave (@chus_lampreave) May 12, 2018
The results will be announced in due course – and we have fingers and toes crossed for Ireland.
