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Eurovision 2023: Ireland's Wild Youth cut ties with creative director after transgender posts

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Wild Youth have previously toured with Niall Horan and Lewis Capaldi and were chosen to represent Ireland in February

Ireland's Eurovision act Wild Youth have cut ties with their creative director over comments made on social media relating to transgender people.

Screen grabs circulated on Twitter of Ian Banham's account referring to transgender women as men in posts.

The Irish band say they stand for "unity and kindness" and will no longer let Mr Banham "near our team".

Mr Banham's representatives have been contacted by the BBC, but they had no comment to make.

With just two weeks until this year's song contest begins, it is quite late for any artist to change their creative team as rehearsals begin in Liverpool next week.

Wild Youth frontman Conor O'Donohoe said he "felt sick" reading the tweets and apologised to those hurt by those remarks.

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According to his website, Mr Banham has worked in the past with stars including Kylie Minogue, Cheryl and Lily Allen.

He was also the choreographer for the most recent series of Ireland's version of Strictly - Dancing With The Stars Ireland.

The Irish broadcaster RTÉ told BBC News: "Ian Banham is no longer a member of Ireland's Eurovision 2023 team. RTÉ won't be making any further comment".

Wild Youth will compete in the first semi-final of next month's competition, which will take place on Tuesday 9 May, with their song We Are One.

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The King and Queen Consort will unveil this year's Eurovision stage during their visit to Liverpool on Wednesday.

The acts from the 37 countries taking part in next month's song contest will begin rehearsals next week, in preparation for the 160 million who'll watch at home.

While the competition is about the song, and the live vocals, the creative direction of the performance on stage can influence both the voting public and the juries which is made up of music experts.

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All the build-up, insights and analysis is explored each week on a BBC podcast called Eurovisioncast.

Eurovisioncast is available on BBC Sounds, or search wherever you get your podcasts from.

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