A member of the band that won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has agreed to take a drug test, the event’s organizers said Sunday, after video of the Italian frontman leaning his face toward a table raised suspicions of cocaine use.
Damiano David — lead singer of glam rock band Måneskin, which won the international competition on Saturday — offered to take a voluntary drug test after arriving home, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the event’s organizer, said in a statement.
“This (test) was requested by them last night but could not be immediately organized by the EBU,” the organizers said. “We are still looking at footage carefully and will update with further information in due course.”
David has denied taking drugs. His band, management and the head of the Italian delegation have said that there were no drugs present in the green room, where David and his band were sitting during the incident in question.
“I don’t use drugs,” David said at a press conference following his band’s big win. “Please, guys. Don’t say that, really, no cocaine.”
David said he was merely looking down because his bandmate, guitarist Thomas Raggi, had broken a glass. The EBU said it confirmed finding broken glass at the table during an on-site check.
The band repeated its defense in an Instagram post and expressed shock at the accusations against David.
“We really are AGAINST drugs and we never used cocaine. We are ready to get tested, cause we have nothing to hide,” the statement read. “We are here to play our music and we are so happy about our Eurovision win and we wanna thank everyone for supporting us.”
Måneskin won the contest with their song “Zitti E Buoni,” which scored them 524 points, putting them 25 points ahead of France’s Barbara Pravi, who performed her song “Voila.” Switzerland’s Gjon’s Tears came in third place with their song “Tout l’Univers.”
A total of 26 countries took part in the final of the world’s largest live music event, which this year took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.