Boy George's Eurovision gamble backfired as fans accused him of 'ruining' San Marino's chances after crashing out of the competition.

The Culture Club singer, 64, was representing San Marino in the international event during the first semi-final on Tuesday.

While some fans were shocked to see the British star on stage in Vienna, Eurovision rules state that artists are not required to be a national of the country they perform on behalf of.

Boy George performed alongside Italian superstar Senhit for her track  Superstar, which won the Sammarinese national selection in March.

He made his appearance towards the end of the song, where he delivered the lyrics: 'All the boys at the bar sipping cool champagne/ All the girls on the dance floor freaking insane/ You're a superstar.'

Despite catching the eye with his signature high-crowned bowler hat, the pair failed to qualify for the final. 

Fans took to social media after the performance to claim that his cameo was 'pointless' and 'ruined' San Marino's chances of winning the competition.

They penned: 'I quite like this but the addition of Boy George is pointless and he sounds bad',

'I'm convinced Boy George ruined San Marino's entry. I feel like Senhit alone would've been better without him. It was nothing compared to when Flo Rida was there with her 5 years ago at Eurovision.

'I think San Marino might have qualified if Boy George HADN'T appeared',

'Objectively hilarious that Boy George failed to qualify for the Eurovision final… will always love Senhit but that song and that act deserved absolutely nothing', 

'Feel for Senhit there. Would have been better without Boy George',

'Boy George popped up like in a karaoke bar lmao.'

After the show, the 80s pop legend took to social media to address his sadness over leaving so soon, yet insisted that he wouldn't have changed anything about his appearance. 

He penned: 'If you voted for us, thank you so much, I was sad we didn't get through to the final but my @eurovision experience has been fabulous. 

'I wouldn't take a minute of it back. Thanks to @senhitofficial and the entire San Marino delegation. What a fun bunch. We will perform together in Milan in July. At the @RealCultureClub show.'

Boy George was not the only big name competing in this year's competition as Delta Goodrem is also singing for Australia.

He was confirmed as part of San Marino's entry months earlier but faced backlash for joining the competition due to Israel's participation following the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Speaking at the London Eurovision Party and in subsequent media interviews, Boy George said withdrawing from the contest would amount to turning his back on Jewish friends.

'I have many, many Jewish friends that I've had since I was 15 or 16 years old,' he said. 'Are people asking me, as a principled human being, to turn my back on my Jewish friends? It's not going to happen – it's never going to happen'.

He added that his connection to Jewish culture dates back to his career, noting that he frequently wore the Star of David during Culture Club's rise to fame in the 1980s. 

However, he stressed that this did not equate to political support for any government.

'I am so affiliated with Jewish people. I am not necessarily affiliated with Israel. I don't really have an opinion on that,' he said. 'But the job of music is to unite people'.

On Tuesday, Israel's Eurovision singer Noam Bettan was booed by pro-Palestine supporters during his performance, but still qualified during the competition's first semi-final.

The show featured 15 performers all competing to qualify for Saturday's final, including Sweden, Croatia and current favourites, Finland.

Israel sailed through to the final of the competition, with the lovestruck pop song Michelle, performed by 28-year-old Bettan.

The contest's festive atmosphere has been upended in recent years by a controversy over Israel's military action in Gaza. Five countries have boycotted the 2026 event, including seven-time winners Ireland.

Bettan faced a mixed reception during the semi-final as a few audience members booed and shouted anti-Israeli slogans, while others chanted his name in support.

The negative reaction to Bettan's performance was audible on the TV broadcast, after Austrian broadcaster ORF, which is hosting the show, said it would not censor protests or negative reactions to any of the contestants.

In a statement after the show, ORF and Eurovision organisers, the EBU said the audience member had been 'close to a microphone' and 'loudly expressed their views' - both as Israel prepared to take the stage and during their song.

'They were later removed by security for continuing to disturb the audience. Three other people were also removed from the arena by security for disruptive behaviour,' said the statement. 

The semi-final, held at Vienna's Wiener Stadthalle, saw 10 countries qualify for Saturday's grand finale, including Finnish duo Pete Parkkonen and Linda Lampenius, who are the current favourites to win. 

Portugal, Georgia, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino were eliminated from the competition following a popular vote.

Elsewhere during the contest, viewers were left furious over 'sound issues' as soon as the broadcast began, many on X complained that a lot of the backing music was drowning out the hosts, Victoria Swarovski and Michael Ostrowski, as well as the commentary. 

They penned: 'Why is the mixing so weird and making the backing music louder than the hosts. Really wish the @bbc was better at sound in general but the first year I've had an issue with #Eurovision :-(.',

'Can the @BBC sort out their sound department. I can't hear the commentary at all! #Eurovision.',

'#eurovision the background music during these esc fans segment makes it all feel like AI.',

'#Eurovision Is the sound a bit off tonight? A bit hollow?',

'Is the sound really quiet this year? #Eurovisión #bbceurovsion.',

'Is the sound terrible for everyone? #eurovision.',

'The sound is so horrible and it's ruining the songs it's sad and unfair #Eurovision.',

'why is the sound so muddy #Eurovision.'

It comes as earlier on Tuesday, it was revealed that an Irish TV channel will play a Eurovision-themed episode of Father Ted in place of the singing contest's final after boycotting the event over Israel's participation. 

On Saturday night, RTÉ, the country's national broadcaster, will air the sitcom's iconic 1996 episode 'A Song For Europe', in which priests Ted and Dougal enter the 'Eurosong' contest, a parody of Eurovision, to represent Ireland. 

The pair perform a disastrous minute-long song called 'My Lovely Horse' and end up receiving 'nul points' after plotting to stop Ireland from winning and having to host the competition the following year.

The Eurovision Song Contest began in Austria on Tuesday, but divisions over Israel's participation are hanging over the event's 70th anniversary. 

Host city Vienna has been decked in hearts and the contest's 'United by Music' motto this week, in which singers and bands from 35 countries will compete onstage for Europe's musical crown. 

But Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland have decided to boycott the competition over Israel's inclusion. 

Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, making it the most successful country in the competition's history along with Sweden. 

But RTÉ said it would not be competing in Eurovision for the first time in 61 years last December, citing the 'appalling loss of lives in Gaza'. 

Israeli singer Bettan was among 15 acts competing for votes from viewers and national juries on Tuesday's semi-final at the Wiener Stadthalle arena.

Like last year's Israeli competitor, Yuval Raphael, he has practised singing while being booed.

The Irish website Extra.ie has congratulated RTÉ on the scheduling, which it described as 'genius trolling'.

Slovenia, meanwhile, said it would broadcast a documentary about Palestine. 

'Instead of the Eurovision circus, the national television programme will be coloured by the thematic program series "Voices of Palestine",' Slovenian broadcaster RTV said.

Spain's RTVE will run its own musical special, 'The House of Music'. 

The boycotts are a financial blow to Eurovision, which is funded largely by participating broadcasters, and to public broadcasters at a time when many are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and competition from social media.

Long a forum for good-natured and sometimes more pointed national rivalries, Eurovision has found it hard to separate pop and politics in recent years. 

Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tensions rose again after Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people, and Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza that has left more than 70,000 people dead. 

The last two Eurovision contests have seen pro-Palestine protests both outside the venues and inside, forcing organisers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

Several performers and countries have called for the exclusion of Israel, which has competed in Eurovision since 1973, one of a few non-European countries to do so.

The 2024 contest in Malmo, Sweden, and last year's event in Basel, Switzerland, saw pro-Palestine protests that called for Israel to be expelled over the conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza and allegations it ran a rule-breaking marketing campaign to get votes for its contestant after Israel finished second last year.

When organisers declined to kick Israel out, five countries announced in December that they would not participate this year.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, has toughened voting rules in response to the vote-rigging allegations, halving the number of votes per person to 10 and tightening safeguards against 'suspicious or coordinated voting activity'.

Israel last year got 83 per cent of its points from the public for its song 'New Day Will Rise' and came ​second overall. 

The winner, Austria's 'Wasted Love', got just 41 per cent of its votes from the public, and had to rely on ⁠the support of national juries to power its way to the top. 

Posts and photos from the Israel X account run by Israel's foreign ministry and ​dated on the day that Israel competed in last year's semi-final had encouraged people to vote for its singer Yuval Raphael, adding that 'you can vote up ​to 20 times'.

'We saw some activity last year which we could describe as disproportionate marketing and promotional activity that we felt was out of sync with the nature of the show, so we put some rules in about that,' Eurovision Song Contest Director Martin Green told Reuters, without referring directly to the posts.

Several pro-Palestine demonstrations are planned in Vienna during Eurovision week, and security is tight, with police officers from across Austria deployed in the capital and support from forces in neighbouring Germany.