At the last rehearsal before the mega event in the Malmö Arena, the Irish act Bambie Thug might not be seen live – and, according to the Irish television station RTÉ, previously expressed the expectation of the EBU to exclude Israel because of comments on Israeli television. The French candidate Slimane, meanwhile, interrupted his song on the open stage to give a message.
During the halftime broadcast, the commentator on the Israeli station Kan warned viewers regarding Bambie Thug’s gothic performance, as it was the scariest of the evening and contained black magic and satanic symbols. He also pointed out that Bambie Thug had repeatedly expressed criticism of Israel. “Now I have even more anger and a lot more drive in me,” Bambie Thug told host broadcaster RTÉ regarding her approach to the evening’s performance. The EBU said in a statement that it had spoken to the broadcaster KAN and urged that all candidates be treated with respect.
French singer Slimane, meanwhile, paused in rehearsal during his song and emphasized that he became a musician to bring people together in love. And further, in relation to the ESC motto: “United by Music – but with love and in peace.”
Dutch singer is not allowed to perform
Aside from the debate regarding Israel’s participation in the contest, the EBU has to contend with a second front: the Dutch singer Joost Klein will not appear in the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest following a complaint from a production employee, as was decided a few hours before the start of the final round. The reason is a police investigation following an employee’s complaint once morest Klein regarding an “incident” that is said to have occurred on Thursday evening.
“While the investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for Joost Klein to continue to compete,” the EBU said in its statement justifying the exclusion. The committees had already withdrawn to the crisis meeting since Friday followingnoon to discuss the “incident”.
Contrary to initial assumptions, there should be no connection with the Israeli delegation, whose appearance in Malmö is controversial.
Rule break
The Broadcasting Union also referred to its statutes: “We remain true to our zero-tolerance policy once morest inappropriate behavior at our event. We are committed to providing a safe working environment for all employees at the contest. From this point of view, Joost Klein’s behavior is unacceptable one of our team members clearly as a violation of the rules of the contest.”
Dutch “shocked”
The tough decision to disqualify a country from the current competition for the first time was clearly not an easy one for the EBU. When the recording of Joost Klein’s semi-final performance was projected in the hall during the jury final, there was demonstrative cheering from the audience, while the responsible EBU supervisor Martin Österdahl – otherwise a favorite in the ESC bubble, who sang with his cult saying “You’re “good to go” heralds the announcement of the voting results – was booed. After all, Joost Klein was one of the audience favorites of this year’s edition with his number “Europapa” and was considered a sure candidate for a good placement.
The Dutch broadcaster Avrotros, which sent the singer into the ESC race, said on its website that it viewed the disqualification as inappropriate and that it was “shocked by this decision”: “We deeply regret this and will come back to it later.” The Dutch TV presenter Cornald Maas also spoke on X (formerly Twitter) regarding a shameful decision by the EBU. The Joost incident also had “nothing at all to do with Israel or the Israeli delegation.” The disqualification was “hell” for Joost Klein and his team.
This means that the final will take place from 9 p.m. with only 25 instead of 26 countries. ORF 1 broadcasts live from 9 p.m. – with Andi Knoll, but without Joost Klein.
Picture gallery: Song Contest: That was the 2nd semi-final
(Foto: JESSICA GOW (TT NEWS AGENCY)) Bild 1/20
View gallery
This article was updated at 5:21 p.m
