After some negotiations between Malta’s broadcaster PBS and the EBU, a new version of Malta’s Eurovision entry has been approved. “Kant” will become “Serving” and will drop the expression “Kant” from its lyrics.
An approval withdrawn close to the deadline
Ten days ago, Miriana Conte, the Maltese representative for Eurovision 2025, revealed 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. Her team was informed during the filming of the music video.
In the aftermath of the Maltese national final, the EBU had initially accepted “Kant” in its original form. 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.
With such a short notice, PBS and Miriana Conte decided to work together to adapt the song to the EBU’s demands, while making an official appeal to the decision. The broadcaster is also contemplating the possibility of legal action, in Swiss courts, considering the EBU’s decision to be discriminatory and disproportionate.
“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)
Malta “Serving” in Basel
The new version of the song will be entitled “Serving” and should not contain the expression “Kant”, at least in its original form of “Serving kant”. It has not yet been confirmed whether the expression would be replaced by something else (there’s been rumours about singing “Serving Conte”, keeping the assonance and using the name of the singer) or simply cut at “Serving”. If this were to be the case, it is likely the Eurovision crowd would still sing it in the arena, as it did for Latvia in 2022 and Serbia in 2023.
The new entry will be revealed tonight, at 18:00 CET, on Youtube. The announcement, made by Miriana on her Instagram account in two separate posts, drew support from both former Maltese contestants (Sarah Bonnici, Destiny, Ira Losco, Christabelle, The Busker, among others) and 2025 competitors from other countries (Kyle Alessandro from Norway, JJ from Austria, Erika Vikman from Finalnd…etc.).
Why would “Kant” be an issue?
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 starting before 9pm (which is an hour into a Eurovision broadcast).
What would you change in the song to make it “compliant” to the EBU’s demands? Do you expect the word “Kant” to be replaced or simply dropped? How do you feel about this change? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
