Nikkie Tutorials, aka Nikkie de Jager, a Dutch makeup artist with more than 13 million YouTube subscribers, has been named the first transgender host of Eurovision.
de Jager was originally slated to host the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest online, before it was ultimately canceled. This year, she will be hosting Eurovision both in-person, and online.
This year’s competition will be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after the Dutch delegation won the 2019 competition.
The hosting gig is de Jager’s first big TV role. She described the role as “an amazing honour” in an interview with SBS Dutch.
“I think there are a lot of people out there taking inspiration from me, by seeing it’s okay to live your truth, to be yourself and still be able to do awesome things in life as hosting Eurovision is,” she said.
“I’m just really thankful that the European Broadcast Union trusted me with this role and I’m hoping I’m making them proud.”
de Jager came out in early 2020, after a blackmailer threatened to leak her identity as a trans woman to the press. Rather than letting that happen, de Jager instead posted a YouTube video coming out. The video has received over three million likes and thirty-three million views.
In her hosting role, de Jager will be accompanied by TV host Chantel Janzen, as well as singers Jan Smit and Edsilia Rombley.
The Eurovision Song Contest will air on SBS from May 19th to 23rd.
