Romania’s Eurovision 2026 Entry Defends Choke Me Lyrics Amid Controversy

Romania’s representative for the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, Alexandra Căpitănescu, has defended the lyrics of her entry, Choke Me, amid accusations that the track glamorizes sexual strangulation.

The controversy centers on the song’s repeated references to unsafe physical practices. According to a report by The Guardian on March 13, 2026, the three-minute song repeats the phrase choke me 30 times.

Other lyrics identified in the track include It’s hard to breathe in, I want you to choke me and make my lungs explode.

Expert Concerns Over Safety

Campaigners against sexual violence have described the lyrics as dangerous and reckless, arguing that the song plays fast and loose with young women’s lives.

Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University and the author of Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, stated that the repeated sexualized messaging in the song shows an alarming disregard for young women’s health and wellbeing.

The song – and its choice by Romania/Eurovision, and promotion by those organisations – represents a reckless normalisation of a dangerous practice

Clare McGlynn

McGlynn further noted that emerging medical evidence indicates that frequent sexual strangulation can lead to brain injury and death, specifically causing brain damage in young women.

Public Backlash and Petitions

The track has faced a significant backlash from the Eurovision community online. Many fans have called for the entry to be disqualified from the competition or for the lyrics to be modified to remove the references to strangulation.

This opposition manifested in a formal effort on April 24, 2026, when a petition was launched calling for the Romanian entry to change the lyrics of the song.

Căpitănescu, who is a former winner of the Romanian version of the television competition The Voice, has maintained the lyrics of the song despite these calls for revision.