After the EBU overturned its own approval of Malta’s Eurovision Song Contest 2025 entry, ‘Kant’, the national broadcaster of Malta (PBS) is now challenging that decision with an appeal.
Diva not down! – PBS to appeal ‘Kant’ verdict
‘Kant’ she or can’t she? That is the burning question amongst the Eurovision community this week. A few days ago, Miriana Conte, the Maltese representative for Eurovision 2025, delivered the shock news on social media, that the EBU had overruled its own approval of ‘Kant’ and had now told Miriana to change the song title and lyrics before the song deadline on March 10. In the aftermath of the Maltese national final, the EBU had initially accepted ‘Kant’ as a participating song of the upcoming contest in Basel, Switzerland. To add fuel to the fire, Maltese media had alleged that objections came through “a report submitted by an EBU member – understood to be the BBC”. So far, the BBC has declined to comment on this suggestion.
Following the announcement, Maltese broadcaster PBS reported that it has appealed the decision made by the EBU. A letter has been submitted to the EBU by the broadcaster. Within the document, PBS share their displeasure at the EBU’s decision. Deeming the fallout, “unfair, disproportionate and discriminatory.” Accusing the organisation of trying to censor and discriminate against the Maltese language. PBS even alludes to the possibility of taking legal action in the Swiss courts over the matter. Despite this, the broadcaster is working with Miriana Conte and her team to respect the outcome and adapt the song in time for the March 10 deadline. Although stressing that the core identity of the song must remain intact.
“We feel this decision is discriminatory against the Maltese language because it is the only word in the song that has been censored.”
Keith Chetcuti, (Executive Head of PBS)
What is ‘Kant’ and why would the EBU be cautious of how much it’s serving?
In the Final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Miriana Conte served victory and served, ‘Kant’. The viral entry that has caused a stir among the Eurovision fan community, became the latest song to represent the Mediterranean island in Basel this May.
The drama that surrounds ‘Kant’ is the clever word play of the lyric, “serving Kant”. In the Maltese language the word ‘Kant’ means singing. However, to those that speak English, the pronunciation sounds very similar to a strong word that when combined with ‘serving’, refers to a slang term that originated in drag culture to reclaim the extreme swear word into a positive term of empowerment. To suggest that someone has slayed hard and served a bold, fierce, feminine statement. The phrase is now part of mainstream internet culture.
Of course, this led many to ponder if the EBU would accept the lyrics, “serving Kant” and how OFCOM and watershed rules in an English speaking country like the United Kingdom or Ireland would react. Especially after the EBU recently updated its own code of conduct and duty of care policy. According to the guidelines of the British broadcasting watchdog OFCOM, the homonymic slur cannot be used in British broadcast media before 9pm (which is an hour into a Eurovision broadcast). At this time, the original version remains unedited on the official Eurovision YouTube channel. [EDIT: by March 14, the original version was withdrawn from the Eurovision channel, but remains available on the PBS channel].
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