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.

Very bizarre indeed.

News reporting 10,000 people outside arena protesting and a massive police presence.

It sounds to me like this is his version of the incident. I suspect hers is somewhat different.

I have not seen anything to support this on social media as yet.

There is a protest planned in Malmo today but only a few allowed at the arena. The main protest is elsewhere.

Will keep looking.

I didn't call you antisemitic.
It was the specific expression you used that I asked about. "Israel paid their way in to the contest" you said, which puzzled me as they qualify by being EBU members and have been contestants for the last 50 years.
And while I've read that their singer is holed up in the hotel unable to take part in any of the events in Malmo because of security, you're saying that the fact that the main sponsor is an Israeli company has privileged her above fellow contestants?
That all sounds rather unlikely.

Are there rules what the contestants must do/participate in? For example, if filming all the contestants as they leave the stage is a thing can the contestant even refuse? Would this be part of the contract? Could him refusing filming already have put him on thin ice and then being aggressive was just the cherry on top?

They said it had been agreed that he wouldn’t be filmed. That was broken.

Yes I believe so (have on good authority)

Joost seems to have had a contract which included not to be filmed leaving the stage by all accounts too...

Hence one of the reasons the Dutch delegation have made specific reference to this in their statement.

👀

Haven't posted for 24 hours due to life stuff but have been following the situation and this thread.

It's hard to make a judgement, going on hearsay only but if Joost threatened a staff member to the point that she felt a police complaint was necessary then his disqualification is probably the correct course of action. The problem is obviously the fact that he has been the first artist to be openly hostile to Israel (press conference antics) so while it now seems that the actual controversial incident was unrelated, it does look as if he is being punished for the Israel thing, then when you add in the social media factor with so many (real or otherwise) witness accounts and speculation, the situation got out of control so quickly.

In a way it's actually good to see that there are not consequences for Joost and other artists (Bambie, Marina, Slimane) who have now spoken up about Israel's consequences but few will believe or even care that there was a separate incident involving Joost. The situation is now political due to his earlier actions.

However, having said all of that, I also think the EBU has a duty of care to artists and it's quite clear that many artists have various vulnerabilities- we've heard on this thread that there were concerns about Joost's ability to cope. He should not have been put in that situation.

I'm ready for tonight and still looking forward to it but not as much as usual.

Have just been exchanging messages with friends who are more casual viewers which has been grounding in a way. They are aware an act has been disqualified and there are protests about Israel but not making any connection and just looking forward to a great night of TV. Need to remember a huge amount of viewers and voters will be taking it all at face value.

@ScribblingPixie that's Israel's own doing though I do empathize with her, she's missing out on all of the social aspects of the festival. What's the point in taking part in an event where the point is friendship and collaboration when you can't be friends and won't collaborate?

Do you think acts are going to be under pressure to withdraw at the last minute due to the protests? I think the organisers are now under huge pressure just to get through the thing.

What should be a cheesy joyful event has now become tainted with politics......

My only counter to this is law difference and cultural differences which I do think are also at play here.

A few days in Sweden and there's definitely a different attitude to politeness / bluntness between various nations. And the laws are much much stricter to a point that we'd think bonkers.

We'd consider harassment as a mitigating factor in a much greater way, is my understanding.

We shall see.

It isn't pleasant seeing a young woman being booed just because of her nationality.

Most decent people would agree.

Biased idiots looking for the next easy and socially acceptable target to harass and hate wouldn't.

This is the Main Presenter for Eurovision in The Netherlands

"Fuck The EBU"

Going swimmingly.

The Netherlands are so going to boycott next year.

@RedToothBrush That's a good point. I work with lots of different nationalities, including Dutch and Swedes and the cultural differences are significant. Again though, that comes back to the EBU's duty of care to all participants.

Hilarious. She's been advised to stay in the hotel for her own safety. The one social situation I've seen her in was dancing in a corridor with last year's Finnish contestant, and he put out a grovelling apology for having done it afterwards.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there might have been some miscommunication. If your job is to stand at the exit and film every artist coming off the stage the camera woman might not have been made aware that this one guy has a special contract and must not be filmed. It’s also interesting why he had that agreement in the first place. If it’s because of his mental state then there are bigger questions about making a vulnerable person participate in such a stressful event and essentially setting them up to fail.

I've spent the week with my Dutch friend so we've been very much looking at cultural differences between each other, the danish and the Swedes.

Apparently the Danes are like the Dutch but grumpy, the Brits need to stop drinking, apologising and queuing but hell we are much more fun, and the Swedes are ever so nice but slightly dull.

I like Dutch people. I've known my friend 30 years. Eurovision has been a time of year that always brings us together.

He is slightly vulnerable, or sometimes finds it hard to cope. So, it was agreed he wouldn’t be filmed after his performance en route to the green room. Despite this a photographer kept filming/taking pictures of him. She was asked a number of times to stop doing it. He either put his hands to push the camera away from him and/or verbally responded. Dutch say he did not touch her.

There does seem to be a bit of harassment of him there too. I don’t know what to think.

Dutch Graham Norton has said he will probably be banned for saying fuck the EBU.

Apparently Joost pushed her phone down when she was filming and that was it according to him.

It's on BBC News

Website certainly does not say they are at the arena. Just in Malmö.

Yes I expect she tells a very different story.

Does anyone know if it's true that the crew member filming had made remarks about Joost's parents?

Any agreement about Joost's not being filmed in that corridor should have been respected, especially after the crew member filming (with a phone??!!) was reminded and asked to stop. A talented singer with a possible disability (a neurodevelopmental condition that leads to over-stimulation reactions, I have read him say) should be able to take part in a singing contest with reasonable adjustments.

If those reasonable adjustments for Joost were suddenly removed and replaced with a phone near face - exactly what he apparently warned he couldn't cope with - then a reaction to that is unsurprising, predictable, and avoidable. The onus was on the EBU to avoid it.