A Puppet Turkey Sings Ireland Into the Semi-Final Cellar

MAY 15 2008 · 12:20

Dustin the Turkey · "Irelande Douze Pointe" · Ireland · 2008 Placement: 23 · Score: 22 · Language: English · Composers: Darren Smith, Simon Fine · Venue: Belgrade Arena · Host: Belgrade, Serbia · Type: scandal · Broadcast: digital hd A foul-mouthed RTÉ puppet turkey operated by John Morrison rolls onstage in a shopping-trolley spaceship, singing a meta-parody about Eurovision bloc voting. The song rhymes 'Macedonia' with 'pneumonia'. The Belgrade audience laughs uneasily. Ireland places 23rd of 25 in their semi-final and fails to qualify — the worst Irish Eurovision outcome to that point. The Irish press splits down the middle between 'finally honest' and 'national humiliation'. Context RTÉ's Eurosong 2008 selected Dustin via televote, a deliberate public revolt against years of mediocre Irish ballads. Dustin had been an RTÉ fixture since 1990. Submitting the puppet was RTÉ acknowledging its own Eurovision machinery was broken. Legacy The failure became a national conversation about whether Ireland was parodying Eurovision or being parodied by it. Ireland would not return to the top 10 until Jedward 2011 8th place. 'Irelande Douze Pointe' remains one of the most-watched Irish Eurovision clips on YouTube, arguably the most famous Irish Eurovision performance of the post-2000 era — for the wrong reasons.