Ties to Russia, scandals: why Tommy Cash angered Ukrainians at Eurovision
19 May 09:58
Estonian rapper Tommy Cash (real name: Thomas Tammemets) has become one of the most scandalous figures at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. His performance with the song “Espresso Macchiato” caused a wave of criticism in Ukraine because of his trip to the temporarily occupied Crimea and his position on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Who is Tommy Cash?
Tommy Cash’s real name is Thomas Tammets. He chose his pseudonym in honor of the American singer and actor Johnny Cash.
Thomas Tammemets was born on November 18, 1991 in Tallinn, in the poor district of Kopli, where many Russian speakers live. Thomas’ mother is half Ukrainian, but his grandmother is a Russian citizen. The artist considers himself an Estonian with an Eastern European soul.
The fact is that the artist was born in Tallinn in a predominantly Russian-speaking neighborhood. In his interviews, he mentioned the influence of Soviet culture and Russian performers on him.
At the beginning of his career, Tommy actively performed in Russia and collaborated with artists from the terrorist country, including the band Little Big.
In 2021, the singer visited the annexed Crimea.
It should be noted that the Russian band Little Big condemned the war and left Russia in 2022, but Tommy Cash himself did not express a clear position after the start of the full-scale invasion.
In his statement, he spoke out against the war, but chose wording that would not alienate the Russian audience.
“I am a staunch opponent of any military aggression! And I fully support the Ukrainian people and people from Russia who do not support the invasion, it is not their choice… This is an extremely sad situation, and I really hope that I will soon be able to return to these beautiful countries to perform new music there,” the artist said.
In 2025, Tommy released the song United By Music together with Dutch musician Joost Klein, which featured the lines “We want peace, they want war” and “I want to fly to Kyiv and go to Moscow,” which caused mixed reactions.
The scandal surrounding the Espresso Macchiato video
Additional outrage was caused by the information that the video for the song Tommy Cash was created with the participation of both Ukrainian and Russian artists.
The video was directed by Russian Alina Paskok and shot by Ukrainian Dmytro Nedrya.
This fact sparked discussions in Ukrainian media and social media, especially given the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
