Bearded Eurovision star Conchita Wurst has said she is “not comfortable” with being seen as a gay “icon”.

The Rise Like a Phoenix singer, who won the competition last year, said she preferred to be herself.

“I’m not really comfortable [with it] if I’m honest, because I don’t see myself as an icon, I’m just representing myself in the first place,” the Austrian drag artist said.

Speaking at the Eurovision Greatest Hits concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, she said: “I mean, it’s an honour, but I think to become an icon or be a role model you need to put an effort in, you know what I mean? And it takes no effort to be myself.

“So I really will keep on speaking for my beliefs and fighting for what I think is right and if there are people to join me I would welcome them very warmly.”

The concert celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision song contest.

British duo Electro Velvet, who will be competing in the next Eurovision contest, were also on the red carpet.

Bianca Nicholas said the UK had a chance to win this year because the electronic genre has “never been tried before.”

She said: “We’ve tried different things, we’ve tried unknown artists, we’ve tried well known artists. But this is a genre that’s never been tried before. We hope that it goes our way. The fans take it very seriously, and there are a lot of them.”

The pair recently released Still In Love With You, their electro-swing entry for Eurovision.