Pictures of the German Eurovision backdrop come from the pictures website iStock. They are the first thing you find when you search the word “lesbian”.
The pictures were visible in the first German rehearsal. During the second rehearsal today, it became clear that Germany removed them.
In interviews, S!sters have always persisted that the song was about “friendship and female empowerment, not necessarily LGBT-related.”
By the way, they used at least 18 different video clips which would correspond to a total of >252 credits, meaning this staging costs at least 1600€. https://t.co/k1gHN2ijJ9
— HelloPaul?????? (@TheRealEuroPaul) May 10, 2019
iStock license allows for use in TV-shows
Experts confirm to ESCDaily that the estimated price for the German backdrop clips is “between a few hundred and 2.000 euros”. The license agreement on iStock confirms that the photos can be used in “an unlimited number of projects and in any media, including tv-productions.”
However, picking stock photos is generally seen as a creative no-go. Also, the use of photos specifically targeted to the search word “lesbian”, adds to the discussion that Germany may have deliberately switched the focus of the song to LGBT-involvement. Keith Mills and Steef van Gorkum discussed this same topic on yesterday’s ESCDaily Show.
In the show, Van Gorkum stated that in comparison to Bilal Hassani, at least he has chosen this statement from the very beginning. “Germany switches at the last moment. This suggests a desparate move. As if they realized things were not going well and this is how they are trying to fix it.”
