Måneskin's triumph at the European Song Contest last year was one of the biggest moments of the show's history, on par with Abba taking home the gold with their song Waterloo in 1974. And just like the sparkle-booted Swedes, the competition sent Måneskin's career into overdrive, landing them with unfathomable levels of fame and international acclaim.
Since their take-home win (they scored a total of 524 points with Zitti E Buoni), the Italian rockers have top charts globally with singles I Wanna Be Your Slave, MammaMia and Beggin' (among others), collaborated with Godfather of Punk Iggy Pop, served as support for The Rolling Stones, and have even earned themselves a headline show at London's O2 Arena.
There were some individuals however – namely, presidential ones – who weren't so thrilled to see the band bag the Eurovision trophy, we have learned.
According to French broadcaster/Eurovision commentator Stéphane Bern, French President Emmanuel Macron wasn't best pleased with the Italian band's increasing amount of votes. In fact, Bern received a text from the President, demanding that the quartet be disqualified, due to frontman Damiano David's alleged drug use on the night.
During the show, David could be spotted moving his head in a vertical motion, leading many viewers to wrongly believe he was snorting cocaine. Conveniently, at the time of the text, France's entry, Barbara Pravi, was in second place.
"It was a big, big mess," Bern explains. "I received so many messages on my mobile - even one from the French president - telling me Måneskin had to be disqualified, saying, 'You have to do something, please.'
"The French minister for European affairs, who was in Rotterdam for the contest, sent me also messages saying, 'What should we do? What should we do? Please do something.'
"But what could I have done? I wasn't hosting. I'm not the President of the Eurovision!"
To diffuse the situation, the President of the EBU, Delphine Ernotte, who also hails from France, advised everyone to remain calm.
"Delphine Ernotte said that if we win, we want to be the winners on merit, not because we have disqualified the first place act," says Bern. "So we didn't make any any buzz or protest around that."
Following the competition, Måneskin's frontman took a drug test, with the results proving that no drug use took place; the band were even inspired to write the song MammaMia about it.
Speaking of Macron's interest in the show, Bern adds, "He's always watching Eurovision. It's a very patriotic thing to do."
