Serving Kant No More: 2025 Malta Eurovision Entry to Change

Within a week of the official submission deadline, the 2025 Malta Eurovision entry will undergo a required change.

Singer Miriana Conte made the announcement on Tuesday, 4 March as she worked on her music video. In an Instagram post, Conte said that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) disallowed the use of the word “Kant,” which means “singing” in Maltese, in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.

For those living under a rock, the play-on-words here involved the word “kant” sounding similar to another word in English, a slang term for a part of the female anatomy. Part of the viral quality of the song was its repeated use of the phrase “serving kant,” which sounds quite a bit like something else uttered in pop culture.

The Maltese public broadcaster, PBS, has reported that an EBU member flagged the word for removal in both the title of the song and the lyrics itself. PBS did not confirm the source of the objection in stone, but said it “understood” that it originated from the British broadcaster, BBC. (Galea, 2025)

Why The 2025 Malta Eurovision Entry Was Flagged

An organization about which you are likely to hear in the coming days is “Ofcom,” or the “Office of Communication.” This is a British agency which, in the context of the BBC, is responsible for censorship in public media. It does much more than that, but for the purposes of this article, that is the only element which is important.

In a letter dated 17 May 2022, an advisor from Ofcom stated that there was “no list of words” which are officially banned from British television or radio; however, they did reference opinion research as to words which may be publicly acceptable and which may not. (Freedom of Information: Right to Know Request, 2022) This 2021 survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, found that the word which “kant” sounds very much like has a strong connotation, meaning “perceived as highly offensive and requiring clear and strong contextual justification.” (Ipsos MORI, n.d.)

What Does It All Mean?

While technically the homophone for “kant” is not banned from being used in British television, the communications regulatory agency in the United Kingdom has published research which indicates that it generates a strong reaction. The cited report holds that many would find its use unacceptable at any time when children might be listening, and some even after that point. (Ipsos MORI, n.d.)

But It Isn’t That Word!

You are correct, because “kant” means “singing” in Maltese. That’s the joke. However, if it was in fact the BBC which originated the challenge (this has not yet been confirmed), there is reason to believe that concern would arise that someone out there wouldn’t get the joke. Complaints may or may not ensue, which could lead to other issues for the BBC.

Didn’t The EBU Give This Song Approval?

According to Miriana Conte herself, they did, but as you read on, did they? The Times of Malta published comments by her on 11 February which indicated that the EBU green-lit the song. (Borg, 2025) When she won the Malta Eurovision Song Contest (MESC), the official Eurovision YouTube channel listed the song as “Kant (Singing),” which many assumed closed the loop on this particular issue, and we could all go about our lives.

However, even that piece from almost a month before the EBU’s change-of-heart cited a British radio presenter who raised concerns that the BBC would not be able to air “Kant” as it was. (Borg, 2025)

This same piece, getting a impressive three citations in our article, quoted an EBU spokesperson as being non-committal – our words – on the status of the song. (Borg, 2025)

Should We Have Seen This Coming?

Given the evidence at hand today, probably. During national final season, before “Kant” won MESC, many of us asked ourselves if Malta would ever get away with sending this song. Then it won its contest.

However, the seeds of doubt existed a month ago. British media presenters were sounding the alarm, and if you follow any British Eurofans on social media, none were surprised by the news. It may or may not be fair to say that British media standards on broadcast obscenity and/or profanity are more stringent than elsewhere in Europe, but that is not an allegation we can easily source, so we are not saying that.

Yet, in the event that the BBC, and Ofcom behind them, are responsible for the objection, it is not hard to see why. The potential for the song to run afoul of their standards is high. A situation may have arisen where the broadcaster could not air the performance, lest they face regulatory hell.

What Now for the 2025 Malta Eurovision Entry?

Conte has pledged to rework the song, and I can speak for this website in saying we are all cheering for her and wish her well in Basel.

The shady part of the business at hand is that Conte evidently found out less than a week before the submission deadline of 10 March. One would hope that Malta had a “Plan B” in the works. If not, the next five or six days will be especially taxing. A fair point to raise is why it took the EBU this long, or why it took this long for an objection to take place. Some clarification on the timeline may be helpful, but at this point, we do not have it.

It’s a sad and annoying moment for the fans, as the song went viral, and as recently as last week, it was seventh in the overall betting odds. There will be some who feel that one broadcaster ruined the fun for everyone. As such, what you see in Basel may be nothing like what we saw in MESC. However, this may be an opportunity for Conte and her delegation to come up with an even more clever way to get the point across, at a minimum of angst for various broadcast censors.