Eurovision officials BAN Welsh and ISIS flags — but EU and LGBT are allowed

EUROVISION officials have BANNED the Welsh flag from the upcoming song contest to stop the competition becoming "political".

Welsh singer Joe Woolford is due to represent Britain in next week's Eurovision Song Contest, but flags from his home country will fail to make the arena.

Other banned flags on the list include those of the Islamic State, Palestine and the Basque Country, Crimea and Northern Cyprus.

However, the rainbow LGBT flag is allowed, but fans have been warned not to wave it in a "political" manner, for example, during Russia's entry.

The EU flag is also permitted.

Organisers of the 61st singing competition, which will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, on Saturday, May 14, say only flags of contest members and UN states can be flown.

Mr Woolford, who was a semi-finalist on BBC's The Voice in 2015, will perform You're Not Alone as part of duo Joe and Jake with fellow contestant Jake Shakeshaft.

A spokesman for the contest said: "The European Broadcasting Union aims to ensure that the Eurovision Song Contest is free from political statements, unauthorised commercial messages and offensive comments, in line with the contest's rules that all 42 participating broadcasters agreed upon.

"Also, the organisers are fully committed to the safety of the audience and crew. For these purposes, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest, which is the contest's governing body on behalf of the participating broadcasters, decided on a flag policy.

"On the request of the venue, the flag policy contains some examples of flags that are not permitted under the flag policy.

"It is important to state that the flag policy is not aimed against specific territories or organisations, and certainly does not compare them to each other, but merely aims at assuring that the broadcast is free from the aforementioned messages and to assure that venue and security staff can enforce this policy upon entrance, without delaying the entrance of some 10,000 people.

"I would like to re-affirm to you that the flag policy is not aimed against any organisation or territory specifically including Wales."

The organisers apologised to anyone who felt offended by the list.

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