Fuck, this may very well be the end of Eurovision as a cultural force in Europe.
What's going on:
The Dutch artist have been showing some mild unease at the Israel presence there this year during the past week. The Irish ones have been forced to change their looks because it included the words "ceasefire" and "freedom for Palestine" in ancient gaelic script.
Yesterday, someone from the Israel delegation staff joked about the dutch artist's father death (the Dutch song is dedicated to him) and there was "an incident" (undisclosed, but the rumor-mill says the Dutch guy may have punched the jokester it looks it was only a verbal confrontation)
Eurovision have disqualified the Netherlands from today's final.
The Dutch broadcaster association (those who pick who to send to EV) posted this a few hours ago:
There has been protest within the Finnish public broadcaster asking for Finland withdrawal
The head of the political party who is the junior partner in the government of Spain is also calling for our withdrawal.
The Israeli delegation seem to have spent the week literally harassing anyone they perceive as critical, with several complains about their behavior already being published.
The Israeli song is one of the favorites to win, and if they do, next year Eurovision would be organized by them. If that happen, there is no way several countries wouldn't just refuse to take part.
So yeah, there is a chance this may be it for the festival. Good job, Eurovision. Great fucking job.
@javi official declaration from Swedish organisers is that the altercation was between Joost Klein and a female member of the production. They totally deny that the Israeli delegation is involved any way.
The only thing that could link them to Joost Klein is that the latter was unhappy sitting next to them in the press talks and covered himself with the Dutch flag in sign of protest.
Oh you mean that specific bit. Ok, by the time I wrote that post there hasn't been any official comms on the matter yet. I'll take a look and update the post
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