The Public Television Company of Armenia requested clarification from Israel’s Public Broadcaster regarding a comment made by one of their commentators following Armenia’s performance during the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
“Channel One” presents the official letter from the CEO of Israel’s Public Broadcasting Corporation to the Executive Director of Armenia’s Public Television, in which the Israeli side apologizes for the remarks made by the host.
Below is the official letter:
“Eurovision broadcasts in Israel are traditionally accompanied by humorous and light commentary, during which the pair of commentators make entertaining and interesting observations about the songs, performers, and participating countries.
During the second semi-final of Eurovision, the commentators made spontaneous humorous comments, including about Armenia’s song, as they do for almost every performance. One of these jokes, which was directed solely at the song and not at the country or the Armenian people, unintentionally offended some members of the Armenian community. This was certainly not intentional.
On the contrary, on several occasions members of the Israeli delegation have emphasized their connection with Armenia’s song and highlighted the warm relationship between the two delegations. When we learned that the comment had been perceived as offensive, the commentator who made the remark publicly apologized on their personal platform.
In addition, a clarification will be provided by the commentators during tonight’s live broadcast. KAN – the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation – sincerely apologizes for this humorous commentary.
We wish success to Pargev and the Armenian team in tonight’s performance.
Sincerely,
Golan Yochpaz
