Why Eurovision fans called for Estonia’s ‘offensive’ 2025 song to be banned

When rapper and singer Tommy Cash released his song for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, it quickly caused a stir.

Titled Espresso Macchiato, the single pokes fun at Italian stereotypes. Sung in a mix of English and Italian, it refers to coffee-drinking, spaghetti-eating mafiosi.

‘Ciao bella, I’m Tomaso, addicted to tobacco. Mi like mi coffè very importante,’ the first verse begins.

He later goes on, ‘Mi money numeroso, I work around the clocko. That’s why I’m sweating like a mafioso’, and ‘Life is like spaghetti, it’s hard until you make it.’

Public reaction was divided, with some expressing their love for the catchy tune while others called for it to be banned, with claims it ‘offends a country’.

Tommy has defended his song and expressed his love for Italy, but here’s a run-down of the controversy that’s surrounded his entry.

Who is Estonia’s Eurovision 2025 entry?

Tommy Cash – born Tomas Tammemets – is a 33-year-old rapper, singer, dancer, and visual artist.

Born and raised in the capital Tallinn, he has admitted to being a troublemaker as a teenager, regularly running away from the police and getting caught painting illegal graffiti.

After failing to graduate from high school he turned his focus to creative pursuits, eventually releasing his first songs on SoundCloud in 2012.

It was his trap-pop single Winaloto – released in 2016 – that saw him breakthrough, with that song having over 16 million views on YouTube.

Becoming known for sexually explicit lytic themes and provocative music videos, he’s gone on to work with Suicideboys and Diplo and perform at festivals like Glastonbury, Sziget and Roskilde.

Over the past five years he’s also carved out a career as a model, walking the runway for brands including Rick Owens, Loewe, Balenciaga, Diesel and Maison Margiela and also launching his own clothing line.

He’s also an artist – working in other mediums including sculpture and painting.

In November last year, following a public vote, he was chosen to represent his country at Eurovision 2025. He was backed by an impressive 83% of the votes.

Why have Eurovision fans called for Estonia’s song to be banned?

Earlier this year, a few months after Tommy’s Eurovision single was released, calls came for it to be barred.

Codacons, a consumer association, lodged an appeal to the European Broadcasting Union questioning whether ‘it’s appropriate to allow a song that offends a country and an entire community’ to be part of the competition.

‘Notwithstanding the freedom of artistic expression that must characterise events such as Eurovision, we cannot help but raise doubts about the inclusion of a song that is offensive to a plurality of individuals in a competition followed by audiences all over the world,’ it said in a statement, as reported by The Guardian.

‘Indignation has been expressed by numerous citizens [over a song] whose lyrics contain stereotypes about Italy and Italians – the usual cliches of coffee and spaghetti, but above all the mafia and the ostentation of luxury, which conveys a message of a population tied to organised crime.’

Meanwhile far-right senator Gian Marco Centinaio declared that ‘whoever insults Italy must stay out of Eurovision’.

‘This singer should come to Italy to see how good people work before writing such stupid songs full of stereotypes,’ he posted on Instagram.

Despite this, many other Italians said they loved the song.

‘As an Italian, I will get a tattoo saying “no stresso, no stresso, no need to be depresso”,’ user belle commented on YouTube.

‘As an Italian I don’t feel offended, rather the contrary,’ Antonella shared.

‘Hello lads! really funny, greetings from Italy,’ Ella added.

In an interview with Italy’s Rai Radio2 last month, Tommy said he didn’t expect the song to come under fire and spoke about his love for Italy and how he had ‘the utmost respect for the country’.

‘I believe a lot in this song. It has something magical. None of my team wanted it to come out because it was very different from my previous songs, but when I played it to my grandmother she started crying and I realised there was something special [about it],’ he added.

Has he faced any other controversies?

Just a week after Tommy was selected to compete in Eurovision, he found himself in hot water when releasing a song that took aim at the European Broadcasting Union, which produces the song contest.

The song United By Music was a collaboration with Joost Klein, who represented the Netherlands at Eurovision 2024 but was disqualified before the final due to a backstage incident during the semi-final.

Their song contained the lyrics ‘f*** the EBU’.

Soon after Karmel Killandi, head of entertainment at Estonian broadcaster ERR, revealed Tommy had met with the board of the ERR.

‘We got an inquiry from the EBU and immediately explained that the men are indeed friends, but this sentence about the EBU was sung by Joost, who may be angry with the EBU because of last year’s disqualification, where he was not found guilty,’ Killandi said, as reported by Eurovoix News.

‘At the request of the EBU, the board of ERR met with Tommy face-to-face on this topic as well. All parties understood and were convinced that it was not a malicious reference to the contest. Joost is more rebellious than the average person and they are friends in music, but it turned out badly.

‘But we are back in the EBU’s good books now.’

Last year he also released an X-rated film titled Sex Olympics, with the graphic project then being released on PornHub.

Recently speaking to NME about finding himself facing controversy regularly, he shrugged it off.

‘I love strong feelings. Also with the Eurovision fandom, the song can’t stay in the middle. Mostly I see all love, but if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, and that’s the best: that’s when people talk about it, when art works. It really touches you or moves you or makes you feel. If it’s in the middle, it doesn’t work. So, it’s all working,’ he said.

The Eurovision Song Contest takes place from Tuesday May 13 to Saturday May 17.

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