Eurovision winner Nemo has spoken about the significance of becoming the first non-binary person to win the song contest, saying they are “incredibly proud”.
The 24-year-old Swiss artist, who uses they/them pronouns, triumphed at this year’s contest with their track The Code, which details their journey towards understanding and accepting their non-binary identity.
Speaking in a press conference following their victory, Nemo said: “I feel incredibly proud, not just for me but for our whole community, for anyone out there who is non-binary, gender-fluid, transgender, just people that are daring to be themselves and people that need to be heard and to be understood.
“We need more compassion, we need more empathy, we need to listen to each other, we need to try and understand each other instead of talking about each other, we need to talk with each other and I think that is really important and I hope that tonight can be a way of remembering that.”
Watch: The moment Switzerland wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
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Nemo explained that they had to smuggle their non-binary flag into the event after Eurovision organisers told them they couldn’t use it during the flag parade or their performance.
“I had to smuggle my flag in because Eurovision said no, and I did it anyway. I hope that some other people did that too. This is clearly a double standard. I broke the code and I broke the trophy, the trophy can be fixed – maybe Eurovision needs a little fixing every now and then.”
When Nemo was asked if there was any other Eurovision artist that they would like to collaborate with, they said: “I would love to do a song with Bambie Thug.”
Earlier this week, Nemo saluted Ireland’s Bambie Thug, saying that it is “so beautiful” that they have the opportunity to experience the song contest together as non-binary artists.
“I feel like we have so much in common and we just ‘get’ each other and it’s so nice to share that experience with another person. I’m really grateful.
“I think it’s really important that we have so much queer representation this year in general.”
