Furious Brussels wants answers over ban on EU flags at Eurovision

The European Commission has expressed anger over a ban on EU flags at the Eurovision Song Contest and demands explanations.

The allegations, made by several https://twitter.com/DorinFrasineanu/status/1789343562678640770 who attended the Grand Final on Saturday and were told off for carrying the flags, quickly turned viral and prompted a stern rebuke from Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas.

“Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.

“Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”

cupcakezealot,
@cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

i want answers on why eleni foureia was robbed over that awful chicken song in 2018

DJDarren,

I’m still salty that Covid robbed us of Dadi Freyr winning in 2020.

tal, (edited )
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

“Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.

“Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”

Not all participants are in the EU. Strictly-speaking, you can maybe argue that the identical flag also applies to most non-EU members as the Flag of Europe, given that pretty much everyone is in the Council of Europe, but it probably still won’t cover Australia.

That being said, I mean, I don’t really see the problem of someone holding the EU flag if they can hold their national flag. I mean, a flag doesn’t have to apply to everyone.

Besides, the thing is “Eurovision” already, not “Euroaustraliovision”. If you want the venue to be some sort of generic thing decoupled from Europe, you’ve already done the branding wrong in rather more-significant ways.

JudahBenHur,

can you think of any other countries that the EU flag wouldn’t represent who were getting boo’d and are also home to Eurovision’s biggest corporate sponsor?

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

I don’t know what you’re referring to, but if it’s the UK, you’ve got the Flag of Europe-also-represents-the-Council-of-Europe case, and the UK is in that.

I guess Belarus isn’t in the Council of Europe. And Russia is either out or suspended or something. I don’t know what the situation is with them, but apparently they both also got kicked out of Eurovision, so kind of an academic question.

EDIT: Yeah, Russia is out of the Council of Europe.

barsoap,

None of the southern Mediterranean states are in the CoE, the EBU has a larger catchment area than the CoE: E.g. Morocco is a founding member. There’s the UfM, that one could get a flag and flying the flag of the African Union should also be perfectly acceptable.

JudahBenHur,

ISRAEL dude, fucking ISRAEL. Moroccan Oil is an Israeli company

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

ISRAEL

Ah, fair enough. And speaking of Moroccan Oil, looking at Wikipedia, Morocco has apparently also competed, and also isn’t in the Council of Europe or European Union:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest

Israel’s first win in 1978 proved controversial for Arab states broadcasting the contest which would typically cut to advertisements when Israel performed due to a lack of recognition of the country, and when it became apparent Israel would win many of these broadcasters cut the feed before the end of the voting.[316][317][318] Arab states which are eligible to compete have declined to participate due to Israel’s presence, with Morocco the only Arab state to have entered Eurovision, competing for the first, and as of 2023 the only time, in 1980 when Israel was absent.[319][320]

mondoman712,

Moroccanoil is an israeli company. The connection to Morocco is that they co-opted a Moroccan product and sell it under their name. There’s no reason to believe that their sponsorship would influence a potential Moroccan entrant.

SuperIce,

Really the only requirement for Eurovision is to be part of the European Broadcasting Union, which extends out of Europe. Hence the inclusion of countries like Israel, Azerbaijan, and even Australia.

barsoap,

Australia is an associated member, same status as the US, any ITU member can be one.

They’re special-cased for the contest because they’ve been watching the thing religiously for decades. And I’m deeply disappointed that they never flipped their vote presenter upside-down.

JudahBenHur,

sure thing, but Morrocan Oil is an Israeli company thats a massive sponsor of the Eurovish

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Bah. Croatia was robbed anyway.

Look at this shit. Laser cows. Laser goats!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBjarAiAVc

Also, look at the music video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTBrVNZtnys

Korne127,
@Korne127@lemmy.world avatar

> „Was robbed“
> Literal second place
lmao

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Should have been the literal winner obviously.

MossyFeathers,

Eurovision: we want to expand into North America and get US broadcasters in on the event so that we have a larger viewer base and make more money.

Also Eurovision: geoblocks Eurovision in the US so Americans can’t watch, meaning Eurovision has a non-existent viewer base in the US and isn’t financially viable for American broadcasters to invest in.

Seriously, my biggest complaint about Eurovision, besides all the bullshit that went on this year, is that they’ve made it nearly impossible for Americans to show interest in it; despite the fact they’ve expressed the interest in expanding into the US.

kralk,

I have given up on ever understanding Eurovision

Viking_Hippie,

It’s not for understanding, it’s just for enjoying.

DJDarren,

Exactly. Get drunk, sit back, and let the madness wash over you.

positiveWHAT,

There’s seems to be no end to serious failures of the Eurovision leadership. Jury votes, Israel and now EU flagban.

TaTTe,

Don’t forget the Netherlands ban

unexposedhazard,

Wait why did they get banned?

vintageballs,

“a backstage incident involving a female crew member”

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the annual event, taking place this year in Malmo, Sweden, said police were investigating the incident involving the singer Joost Klein and that it would not be appropriate for him to participate.

Perhyte,

There was some kind of incident between the artist and a camera woman. The exact details aren’t public, AFAIK.

unexposedhazard,

According to AVROTROS, Klein “repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed”, which “led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera”. They said: “Joost did not touch the camera woman.”

This was backstage btw. Idk if raising your fist as a gesture against a camera, when you told them to fuck off multiple times is deserving of the kind of shit he is getting. But who knows, i wasnt there.

Microw,

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet claims that he destroyed the camera.

Reddfugee42,

Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal, even if you don’t follow through. It’s not just a rule, it’s also a law.

And yes , there are different jurisdictions for everything, but show me a jurisdiction that doesn’t have such a law

Viking_Hippie,

Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal

That’s just your assumption. What I’ve read is that he tried to physically turn the camera away from his face and the obnoxious camera woman reported that as a threat.

Either way, banning him from a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at one of the biggest music events in the world is WAY out of proportion, especially as he was just defending himself from having his privacy invaded in a very emotional moment (just after singing an ode to his dead dad)

Gormadt,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Not wanting to be filmed backstage at an event seems pretty normal IMO as backstage is where a lot of prep work happens. It probably not safe for untrained personnel and/or might reveal things that people don’t want on camera (like costume malfunctions that are being worked out)

Viking_Hippie,

Also, it was literally seconds after he had finished singing an ode to his dead dad, so a very emotionally raw moment.

Which is why he had an agreement with everyone that he was not to be filmed at that time. An agreement that the obnoxious camera woman had agreed to prior to figuratively pissing all over it.

Plopp,

Obnoxious camera woman? You don’t think she had a producer in her ear telling her what to do?

Viking_Hippie,

Whether someone else was telling her to or not, she was behaving obnoxiously. “Just following orders” is no excuse.

Plopp,

There are absolutely circumstances where I’d give someone a pass, even if what they did is poor behavior. I don’t know anything about her, but we’re talking about one of the largest TV events in Europe and there’s enormous pressure on every crew involved. You have to be a really gutsy and probably very experienced motherfucker to stop and say no to the producer in that moment when the stakes are so high. Even more so if you’re a woman.

Viking_Hippie,

I get what you’re saying and in most cases I’d agree.

In this case, though, it was a clear invasion of his privacy and disrespect of him as a person.

To ignore his repeated requests to leave him alone in a very vulnerable moment, after you’ve already agreed to along with the rest of the press pool, is not just poor behavior. It’s abuse befitting the worst paparazzi sleazeballs.

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

The reason given is that “he made a threatening gesture towards a camera woman”

This is likely just an excuse to ban him because he spoke out against israel committing Genocide delegation not answering a question, as instant disqualification is extremely disproportionate for a gesture.

It also served as a great distraction from israel being allowed to compete.

unexposedhazard,

That was Eric Saade with the scarf on the arm, but it was my first idea aswell. Or was there a separate incident with Joost Klein that i wasnt able to find?

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I think you are right I might be confused. Joost Klein did speak up during a panel during Eurovision to make the israeli singer answer a question they were trying to dodge

He also covered himself in the Dutch flag to be unrecognizable when they sat him next to israel

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/c3f0ac0c-7886-4c7d-9a31-ef44e6e1716c.png

I didn’t follow Eurovision too closely so I cannot confirm whether Klein spoke up against israel before Eurovision. For now I’ll correct my comment.

The key point is that israel violated multiple rules themselves and harassed many contestants including the Irish one. So the decision to completely axe Joost for what appears to be a very minor infraction can almost not be explained by anything else that external motivations.

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