Updated: Includes comments by Miriana Conte.
A BBC radio star has cast doubt on whether the UK broadcaster will air Malta’s Eurovision entry Kant on the radio.
While discussing the Eurovision Song Contest on Monday morning, BBC Radio 2 host Scott Mills said, “We can’t talk about Malta’s one at all; we definitely can’t play a clip of it, ever, on the BBC.”
Despite not explicitly referencing why he could not air Miriana Conte's song on his radio programme, which airs in the morning, it is likely to be due to the use of the word “kant”.
In Maltese, the word refers to singing but in English could be heard to reference a vulgar slang term for part of the female anatomy.
Conte won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday evening and will be representing Malta at the European festival in Basel, Switzerland in May.
In the UK, broadcast content is overseen by the Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, a government-approved regulatory body.
While there are no banned words, the authority’s guidelines require broadcasters to adhere to “generally accepted standards” for the use of offensive language in programmes, which include limiting when they can be used.
The word “c*nt” – that some argue is implied using the Maltese word “kant” – is considered among the “strongest offensive language” by Ofcom, and should “never” be used before 9pm, according to the authority.
There have also been questions raised about whether the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) could take issue with Malta’s entry; last week, Australian Eurovision-themed news site Aussievision questioned in a blog post whether it would allow the word.
The site noted that with "kant” being the only Maltese word to appear in the otherwise English-language song, Conte “might have some difficulties in convincing the EBU that she's really singing about singing.”
Meanwhile, even the team behind Malta’s Eurovision entry seem to have doubts; on Thursday, Swiss news outlet Blick reported the song’s co-composer Benjamin Schmid saying the team had “not clarified” whether it would be allowed by the song contest.
“But if we win the preliminary round with it, it has to stay... If we delete this passage, the whole play on words will be gone”, Schmid told the outlet.
Conte’s song features the word being used in the sentence “serving kant” – an apparent reference to the phrase “serving c*nt* used in queer and drag culture to describe a person who is bold and full of confidence.
While questions remain over how Malta’s Eurovision entry will go down at BBC headquarters, the corporation has traditionally taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to the competition, with commentary from late host Terry Wogan and current presenter Graham Norton tending towards irreverence – an outlook shared by Mills this week.
Discussing the recent local finals of the competition, he said: “Lots of countries chose their act to send to Eurovision over the weekend; it’s like election night, but camper,” before going on to play a clip of Ireland’s entry about a dog that went to space in 1997.
“That’s Eurovision,” he quipped.
Controversial song? Maybe. Bold outfit? Possibly. But we did it - Miriana
Miriana, meanwhile, has described the past 48 hours as having been 'surreal' for her.
"Winning the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2025 and then being in a car accident and ending up hospitalised. It still hasn’t all fully sunk in," she said on Instagram.
"This journey has been an emotional rollercoaster - teaching me discipline, perseverance, and resilience. Against all odds, every doubt, every horrible comment, every criticism I faced. I can proudly say that I made it. KANT wouldn’t have been possible without every single one of you that believed in us, our vision and what this song can bring to this little island whom we are so proud of," she wrote.
She thanked her team for believing in her.
"Controversial song? Maybe. Bold outfit? Possibly. But we did it. This win is for MALTA. Let’s serve KANT in Basel," she wrote.
Times of Malta has reached out to PBS, the EBU and BBC for comment.