Eurovision 2024

[RunningAndSinging]

Anyone interested in the build up this year? I have been more aware this year as the songs are announced. I like Croatia, Ireland and Finland. Dizzy is hopefully going to do well which makes it exciting - Olli Alexander should be good performing live and he is well known in Europe.

Just reading about the controversy with Israel’s entry and I see that Iceland might send a Palastinian singer.

Ukraine have been the favourites for a while but Croatia is just ahead of them now.

Being reported: Big cheer in the stadium. Joosts semi final performance is played on screens.

https://twitter.com/LongiBc/status/1789016953375326256?t=kekBDHbjA4ZRAi9XqVi8Jg&s=19

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There's a big push on Reddit to vote for Croatia to try to ensure that Israel doesn't win.

Today has been depressing. Should be excited about Bambie but instead there's just a massive cloud hanging over the whole contest.

I hope the EBU will make an announcement tonight about Joost, would be crazy to let it drag into tomorrow.

Latest from the Guardian fwiw.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/may/10/eurovision-song-contest-malmo-israel-controversy

Israel are (relatively) newly part of the Invictus Games as well, along with Colombia and Nigeria.

Rest of the World voting is supposed to be open now.

It's not. It's been delayed.

So when is Bambi Thug getting disciplinary for this?

How are the EBU going to deal with this?

There's also a tiktok doing the rounds of Golan practicing with her team 'jokingly' booing her and shouting Free Palestine at her. How is that ok, if it's not ok to wear Palestine scarfs.

I think it's fair to say that any pretence of respect has totally broken down.

Do the EBU have the ability to throw Joost out without the entire show collapsing?

Martin Osterdahl apparently got booked by the arena crowd tonight as they did the fake results for the performance.

Rest of the world voting initially was 'delayed' and now is 'postponed'.

ESC discord live tweeted the jury show earlier. Here is a couple of their comments:

Massive improvement in Olly's vocals from the first semi-final to this show. The high note is... GOOD! Strong production value and the artist is at his best.

Angelina's in a new outfit today! It's a black outfit with roses on her corset, with a bit of sparkle. It's a very strong performance from her, vocally more similar to at Sanremo.

Slimane's vocal antics - standing from such a distance from the microphone - haven't quite worked this time. Imperfect vocal performance from him, which during a jury show has got to harm his chances. And then a break after him? With one performance to go?

Apparently there were slight set change issues with both Ireland and Austria and were not quite ready on time.

DH "what happens if we have a stage invasion during Israel tomorrow? How will security react? Are there Israeli security forces protecting Eden Golan? How will they react?"

This isn't something we should be considering. After seeing the Israeli police convoy on my way home, I think it's a valid one. And disturbing prospect which is arguably a possibility.

I think tomorrow we will see a full rebellion by a number of artists regardless of the Joost outcome. Artists are no longer willing to stay within the EBU constraints by the looks of it. They've now totally lost control of the situation and the artists are starting to openly challenge.

Then there's the Joost decision itself. I find it almost inconceivable that they have the ability to remove him from the contest. Joost in turn may well be refusing to appear due to his treatment. It could well be a negotiation situation developing. Who is the one here with the power? Joost might be completely guilty of whatever it is too. But I think it's impossible to ignore the pressure box the EBU have got themselves into a mess with.

Then there's the televote issue. No one trusts it now. Is it being rigged? And are we going to see a potential Pro-Joost/anti-israel vote or deliberate tactical voting for Croatia?

This situation seems like it can't get worse. Only for it to escalate further.

Grand Final Jury Show Audience Poll.

Switzerland win by quite a margin.

This contrasts with the Press Poll which had Croatia as the winners.

Ireland come in 4th. They were third in the Press Poll.

So they in theory should do really well.

It should also be noted that The Netherlands came third in the jury show despite not even performing live.

The UK were 12th in both. So that seems to be about our benchmark.

Of course there may be some unpredictably about results tonight...

I'm really worried now. Massive UK drive on Twitter /X drumming up votes for Israel. Loads of people who say they've never watched the contest or voted before saying they'll be voting for her.

That’s a good thing. The silent majority speaks.

No it isn't. The "silent majority" of people who normally have no interest in the contest trying to influence the vote on a political basis?

It would be damaging for the competition if Israel were to win. Their participation has already been damaging this year.

Dutch press (this is new - only just published in the last few mins)

Dutch media reports that a complaint against Joost has been filed and that he was interrogated late last night by the police.

The police further reports it's about an incident that occurred with a female television production worker.

The case has now been handed over to the Swedish public prosecutor, who will determine what will happen. The settlement of the case "could take weeks."

https://nos.nl/collectie/13971/artikel/2520034-joost-klein-na-klacht-verhoord-door-politie-deelname-aan-finale-nog-onduidelijk

It is unclear what this means for his participation in tonight's Eurovision Song Contest final. NPO boss Frederike Leeflang is having a meeting this morning with broadcaster AVROTROS and the EBU about Klein's participation. She arrived at Klein's hotel in Malmö this morning. That visit had already been planned, but has now taken on a different meaning.

Thats the head of the Dutch Eurovision broadcaster.

What a bloody mess.

Latvia is looking more tempting each second.

What a clusterfuck shitshow omnishambles.

My friend has close contact in the Dutch music industry.

They know an act who participated a few years back and said the pressure and control at Eurovision was incredible and they hated the experience. This has put off other Dutch Acts.

When Joost was announced, this same contact of my friend knowing what had happened previously was concerned about Joost because of his emotional state. The videos of him performing and talking about his parents at a festival several years ago really highlight this. The exact phrase used about Joost was that he was 'unstable' and my friends contact wondered if he'd be able to hack it. The answer it would seem is no.

So imagine being one of the fan favourites when you have all the Israel/Palestine stuff going on too.

Joost may well be guilty here but I have real concerns about the duty of care issues relating to artists. It's very clear that it was known within the Dutch music industry that he was emotionally exceptionally vulnerable. Whether that places some responsibility on Swedish production themselves or the Dutch delegation I don't know but I think it possibly needs to be flagged in terms of going forward regardless of the actual incident and what the outcome is.

It's depressing on a huge number of levels.

If it’s a television worker, then it’s much more straightforward. Violent conduct, disqualification. If it had been a member of the Israeli delegation, then it would be far more difficult to handle.

Was Netherlands being placed in the order by Production?
Do you think it could have just been blowing a fuse over what many consider to be a dud slot for a banger? I'd have put him last to finish the show.

Speaking as a Eurovision fan: I strongly disagree. Viewers letting their feelings about a country (for good or ill) sway their vote is unfortunate but inevitable.

Non-viewers weighing in would destroy the contest.

Agree with @EvilRingahBitch
It's a shambles.
Thanks for the updates @RedToothBrush

If it’s true that he assaulted someone, then all the individuals that have commented on social media about ‘justice for Joost!’ and the like, are going to look very foolish indeed when the truth comes out.
But, until then, it’s all speculation?

Well then what’s the point of it? That would mean it’s no longer a song contest, ‘united through music’. It will become a multi-million pound proxy political energy poll with a skewed sample and the potential for mass political manipulation via social media, vote rigging allegations and bad feeling.

Which frankly would be bad for everyone involved, and probably mean the end of the song contest.

In fact it’s pretty much on life support right now.

At this stage (or ideally 24 hours ago) if I were the EBU, I'd be setting people to look at the telephone records from the semi-finals, and checking online messaging looking for any possible sign of iffy vote rigging for Israel, so that it could be used to suspend her vote for "irregularities" if they see that she's going to win. Messy, but would avert the worst case scenario of an Israel win in the teeth of public sentiment, which I honestly think would destroy the competition.

TBH I think it would be legitimate if they did overturn such a hypothetical vote, but I hope that that scenario is still highly unlikely. Given the number of countries voting, the chances of a coordinated vote push from Malta to Riga to Azerbaijan on sufficient scale to win would require something way beyond a few twitter campaigns.