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.

Opinion piece by Rob Hoogland in ’De Telegraaf’ has a new angle on it all. Joost should have had an ‘identity’ and he’d have been untouchable. Maybe Nemo’s twirly skirt.
Sorry for very bad google translate.

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Yet even three days after the Eurofishy Song Contest, I still struggle with this question: would Joost Klein also have been disqualified if he had combined that silly blue suit with a skirt?

Oh dear! Trans hate! No. Everyone is allowed to identify themselves as he/she/x wants, although I would welcome it if things were done with a little more modesty. Moreover, I sometimes notice an identity change in myself. Just this morning. When I got into the bathtub I felt like a real guy, but when I looked in the mirror after bathing I thought: damn, there is a cool nurse from Dokkum with a backpack and hanging tits (I know my Neerlands Hoop classics). Okay, the backpack was missing, that is to say: the physical backpack, but I can confirm from the authorities that the rest of the image was correct. The conclusion can therefore be drawn that a certain desire for gender fluidity is not strange to me.
Shocking?

Oh well, a few months on the regime and I'm just the same guy again, but now comes the funny thing: I could hardly suppress my cynicism when the Swiss Nemo, who identifies herself as non-binary, very proudly emerged as the winner(s). ) stepped onto the stage in her/his/their skirt. And that became especially difficult when the Irish Bambie Thug was interviewed, a strange and remarkably evil creature who also likes to consider himself non-binary.
“The day the music died again,” I muttered myself, quoting Don McLean, thinking back to all those ESF songs.

However, Bambie crowed: “I am so proud of Nemo. We fought for this shit behind the scenes. It was so hard for us. The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) is not what the Eurovision Song Contest is. Fuck the EBU. We are what the Eurovision Song Contest is. It is the participants, the community behind it, the love, strength and support of all of us that create change. And the world has spoken. Non-binaries for the fuckin' win!” Great goodness.

They have started to take themselves very seriously and, remarkably enough, they do so with the same attitude as that of those who always annoyed them when their 'case' was questioned in a very pedantic manner from that quarter: they claim as aggressively as possible. superiority is possible. This is mainly made possible because at EBU and the underlying national broadcasters they suffer from the same 21st century ailment to which so many contemporary Western administrative authorities have fallen prey, as the riots in connection with the Gaza problem here and there prove: people shit their pants profusely at the slightest bit of resistance.
Is society going to die because of all this slacking? I can no longer rule it out and for that reason I already know the answer to the question posed in the opening sentence. No, namely.

https://www.telegraaf.nl/watuzegt/31346542/joost-had-ook-n-rokje-moeten-aantrekken

There's a carillon at a church in Piraeus port which plays the theme to Never on a Sunday - which was set in Piraeus and starred Melina Mercouri as a prostitute.

As you were.

More on that Avrotros complaint.

https://www.ad.nl/songfestival/avrotros-twee-keer-melding-gedaan-van-onveilige-sfeer-achter-schermen-songfestival~ab674fce/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F

Via Google Translate

AvroTros: Reported unsafe atmosphere behind scenes song contest

The Dutch Eurovision delegation has last week twice reported to the organization of the Eurovision Song Contest. According to broadcaster AvroTros, there was an unsafe atmosphere behind the scenes in the Malmo Arena and no improvement took place after the first notification.

Even before the much-discussed incident on Thursday evening 9 May, in which Joost Klein would have made a threatening movement towards a camerawoman, AvroTros made a report to the EBU, the organizer of the song festival. According to a spokesperson for the broadcaster, this was an oral report, in which the Dutch Eurovision delegation raised the unsafe atmosphere behind the scenes. This complaint came from the so-called delegation bubble: the team around Joost Klein. What this unsafe atmosphere means in concrete terms, does not want to explain the broadcaster.

The second, written report was made on Friday 10 May, the day that Joost Klein was not allowed to rehearse because of the incident with the camerawoman. “The two reports are separate from the incident,” AvroTros spokesman said. According to her, the conversation “did not improve.” Whether the unsafe atmosphere has to do with the repeated call of Joost Klein not to be filmed right after his performance is not clear. “Contently we do not want to explain it further,” said the broadcaster, who, in his own words, received no response to the second written report.

Heavy and terrible
Earlier, artists from other countries, including Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Lithuania, have already failed to be satisfied with the atmosphere behind the scenes. The Irish Bambie Thug criticized the organization the day after the final. It has been so hard and so terrible behind the scenes. The EBU is not what the Eurovision Song Contest is. Fuck the EBU.”

The entry of Norway, the band Gate, told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that they have considered resigning until shortly before the final. And also the Swiss singer Nemo, who won the Eurovision song contest on Saturday, let during the press conference after the final know that the organization has dropped stitches. ,,The Eurovision must stand for peace and community. It has not always been here and it has hurt me. I hope that the Eurovision song contest will propagate these values in the future, but there is still some work to do.”

The EBU has received a lot of criticism in recent days. The big boss of the organization was booed several times during the concerts. During the final of the Eurovision song contest, the joking people in the arena were clear for the first time.

Earlier, the organizer used an anti-boe-boe-voke system several times during the show. As a result, critical sounds from the room were less easy to hear, including during the performance of the Israeli Eden Golan. AvroTros was not happy with that course of business. “We believe that in a performance by a musician you should always show what it does to the audience.”

This is starting to get interesting.

If complaints were made BEFORE the incident and there is a particular reason why Joost had a contract stating no filming when he came off stage (such as neuro-diversity), you have a somewhat different picture.

We shall see.

Eurovision Norway AT euroviNOR
Gåte about Eurovision: This group (picture) lived on while in Malmö and after Joost Klein was DSQ, we clarified that Israel also broke rules. Hours before the show, we confronted EBU with this and it became real that about eight or nine countries was on the verge of withdrawing.
(Ireland, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Switzerland, UK, Denmark, Lithuana & Finland)
Source: interview here (in norwegian)
https://www.tv2.no/video/nyhetene/snakker-ut-etter-eurovision-vurderte-aa-trekke-seg/1964250/

Quite how San Marino and Denmark could withdraw from a final they weren't in, is unclear (large pinch of salt needed here I feel). It would suggest things were going on before the conclusion of semi final 2 live show though.

What a chaotic end to the event.

The quality of the songs has been really high this year, but so many artists and fans have left Malmo feeling deflated.

At least the final went well and most of the songs in the top ten deserved to be there. I loved The Code since it was first unveiled, but I had doubts about Switzerland’s ability to win after the first rehearsal. In the end the performance was incredible, so bravo Nemo 👏

Seems fitting that we're going to a neutral country after all this.

Proud of Bambie for getting Ireland's best result since 2000.

From various sources, it seems like they need to reinstate the distance between performers and audience, some of whom are being given too much access as 'press', lose the Tik-Tok partnership and stop random filming in shared backstage areas. And stop indulging the idea that enthusiasts 'own' the show and can shape it to their own preferences. The last Swedish-hosted show played on this idea and this one did too. It does't lead anywhere good.

Well it's just not going to be an option in Switzerland.

No consent to film = illegal.

So that's going to end that idea pretty damn quickly. Or end up another right old mess.

Today's latest is that Slovenia have seeming to be prepare an official complaint against Israel's behaviour at the contest and Serbia's broadcaster have said their should be an appeal against the decision stating it was unfair.

Slovenia Press report:

https://www.rtvslo.si/zabava-in-slog/glasba/ema/izrael-potrdil-da-je-organizirano-spodbujal-h-glasovanju-pritozbe-proti-ebu-ju-se-sirijo/708291

TV Slovenija also prepares questions for the EBU
According to unofficial information, the Serbian and Slovenian delegations are also considering the complaint regarding the behavior of the members of the Israeli delegation. We also asked the public relations department of RTV Slovenia about this, where they explained to us that Television Slovenia "is preparing a document in which they will ask the EBU officials some questions about the performance of the Eurovision Song Contest". Details or what the questions will be about is not yet known.

The Portuguese radio and television announced that due to the arbitrary behavior of the EBU, which uploaded a video of their representative Iolanda's performance from the semi-finals to the official channels, instead of the final performance (because she had her nails painted in the Palestinian national colors in the final), and this with almost an hour late, he asked the organization for an extraordinary meeting, at which he expects explanations from the EBU regarding the aforementioned controversial conduct.

As they also stated at RTP, their request is also supported by representatives of radio and television stations in Norway, Spain, France and Croatia.

Thats the first I've seen mention of Croatia not being happy. France made a statement on stage during Slimane's Afternoon Final Performance. Spains broadcaster put out a statement about press freedom at the contest.

The article goes on:

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Eurovision vote testifies to the fact that there is a silent majority in Europe that "does not involve politics in music" and that insists on its views " despite the noise of the Pro-Palestinians and despite the constant attacks on the Jewish state".

But behind the high level of support for the Israeli representative is, as the Times of Israel states, (also) the organized operation of the Israeli government or of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. " It is true that at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we intervened among the audience sympathetic to us in order to encourage voting," confirmed David Saranga , Acting Director of the Directorate for Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the aforementioned newspaper.

"We knew that in reality the situation is not as serious as it appears from the demonstrations on the streets of Europe, but we did not expect such a large support, " Saranga told Ynet, while admitting that "there is clearly an organized, dedicated effort behind the scenes supporters of Israel who encouraged casting votes for the Golan". As he also said, this " clearly encouraged even those who do not follow Eurovision to vote".

According to ynet, the Israeli government or the foreign ministry invested a lot of money in the "promotional campaign" and, in addition, instructed its representatives in European countries to encourage people to vote for Israel.

As we have already reported, similar appeals have also appeared among Slovenians on social networks. Former minister in the government of Janez Janša, Žiga Turk - who shared with his followers the number for voting for Eden Golan - and SDS member of parliament Anja Bah Žibert, among others, urged their followers to vote for the Israeli song, who proudly tweeted that she never voted in Eurovision, but now she is to support Israel.

Similar appeals were also published by individual ambassadors and official representatives of Israel in various European countries, according to Grayzone.

At the same time, Israeli politics also ordered numerous advertisements, for example on YouTube, with which they called for voting, and even leased a billboard in New York's famous Times Square, thus motivating Americans, who in principle do not really care about Eurovision, to vote.

So we have the Israel press freely admitting that the Israeli government openly funded and used government channels to affect the result of the competition. I wonder if this is against the rules.

That supports the feeling that Norway had when they explicitly stated they felt they were being used for propaganda.

That's now Norway, Ireland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, France, San Marino, Portugal, Switzerland, UK Finland (a total of 15 I think) who expressed some kind of concerns about fairness.

Meanwhile the EBU appear to be trying to show how much they are losing the argument stating that it was not just Martin Osterdahl who made the decision. It was also another 15 EBU experts from a variety of other countries and the decision was unanimous.

Sounds like they are trying to save Osterdahl as the argument seems to be rattling on and is far from a resolution. We are now on Wednesday and the EBU haven't managed to calm the anger in the slightest.

Oo I forgot Poland. Make that 16.

Meanwhile the 2022 Dutch entry has done an interview stating
S10 boundaries were also not respected during the Eurovision Song Contest
After the incident with Joost Klein (26), S10 (23) opens up about her time at the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer admits that she had a hard time during her participation in 2022. S10 also believes that the people backstage did not respect her boundaries. The documentary 'S10-that things continue to go well for me' will be broadcast on May 22 at 9:10 PM at the EO on NPO3.

I was aware of this previously as she's spoken to others in the Dutch music scene prior to this year's contest and told them not to do Eurovision. This is not retrospective. It's why there was concern from some about Joost's temperament before the contest. It's good to see she's going public about it though.

Thanks for the summary @RedToothBrush

Considering Israel was trying to use the high televote score to claim they have widespread support around Europe, it's odd to then brag about how they manipulated the vote. Not a smart move!

I'll be shocked if it's actually investigated.

It's quite something that they are so arrogant as to boast about it. There is an air of untouchability about it.

There is a certain amount of consistency about what is coming out to me. Even allowing for biased delegations against Israel.

As I say I was previously aware that the control and lack of care of artists was an issue from conversations I've had with friend over the past year about it. It definitely pre-existed as an issue before this year. Hopefully it is something that will now be addressed before next year as it's very poor. This is quite separate from any issues with Israel.

The question for me is just how serious the incident actually was and whether the Dutch put together a defence based on all of the above. And the EBUs response.

It's hard to see how Eurovision can allow Israel to compete again next year at this point especially if issues are ongoing with Gaza. Everyone else will just bail. The trouble is the main sponsor being Israeli and how long they might be contracted for. (And whether the terms include Israels participation).

If the EBU can present a good case why Israel broke the rules then he might be helpful to enforce them.

And the use of government apparatus to aid the voting smells of a legitimate cause for concern. That's straight propaganda (it's meeting even a mild definition. Which other delegates have been complaining about.

I think Joost did do something that wasn't ok. But context matters.

EBU have some big decisions to make going forward.

I'm somewhat surprised Martin Osterdahl is still in a job though all though.

EBU to do list:

1. Find new Executive Supervisor
2. Find new sponsor

(3. Find new catchphrase for 1 above)

Is all marketing manipulation, or only when Israel do it (and show they're really good at it)? Is talking honestly about your marketing campaign bragging and boasting or only when Israel do it? Are all the sponsors suspected of having a clause that insists their country's competitor takes part (WTF?) or only the Israeli one?

I think a national government ploughing substantial funds into affecting the outcome of a song contest goes beyond simple marketing. The contest is supposed to be non-political so surely this is against the rules? It's against the spirit of the contest for sure.

As Eurovision is a competition between broadcasting companies, then what happens independently of that is outside the EBU's area of control, I'd guess - and Martin Osterdahl made it clear that Israel's broadcaster isn't aligned with Netanyahu's government. Like if the UK PM had rallied all Brits abroad to vote for our 2020 entry post-Brexit and urged them to do it for an independent Britain and to hack off the EU, how could it have been covered by 'the rules'?

That point might hold up if the Israeli government haven't used government funds and departments to run a campaign to vote for Israel outside of those people who run the competition. This has been admitted to.

This is rather problematic tbh.

How does that involve the TV company?

You can't claim the TV company is independent if you have a government campaign like that. Sorry.

It was Martin Osterdahl's assertion wasn't it? I thought it was you who put the interview up?

Here we are. The question was why is the Russian broadcaster banned and Israel broadcaster not. Martin Osterdahl says "The disinformation that was spread about the invasion of Ukraine was what was too much for us in the end. But while the Russian broadcasters are Putin's and the Kremlin's extended arm, the Israeli broadcaster KAN is the direct opposite. Netanyahu has been trying to shut it down. And it's the independent public service broadcasters that we have to support."

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68533031

The broadcaster was prepared to withdraw when asked to change the lyrics of the song. The president then intervened for the reasons quoted by the broadcaster in the article. If that's not political I don't know what is.

What? The article says the broadcaster was considering withdrawing from Eurovision rather than change its song lyrics, which the EBU viewed as political. But the president "called for" them to make the adjustments required and follow EBU rules, saying, according to the broadcaster, "when those who hate us seek to push aside and boycott the state of Israel from every stage, Israel must sound its voice with price and its head high and raise its flag in every world forum". What possible objection should the EBU have to that?

A rather grovelling letter to the EU from the EBU saying "Oops no the EU flag was never really banned we just erm.. bollocks this up too and aren't prepared to admit it"

“The EBU needs to stop blaming the delegations and artists for the scandals that surrounded Eurovision 2024”

Norway’s Head of Delegation Stig Karlsen tells us the EBU should be more humble and take responsibility for recent damage to the contest

https://wiwibloggs.com/2024/05/16/the-ebu-needs-to-stop-blaming-the-delegations-and-artists-norways-hod-stig-karlsen-addresses-eurovision-2024-scandals/281773/

“There is no doubt that the reputation of the Eurovision Song Contest has been significantly damaged this year, and it is now crucial that the EBU quickly takes action. The EBU needs to stop blaming the delegations and artists for the scandals that surrounded Eurovision 2024, and acknowledge the core problem. They need to be more humble and take responsibility for the damage done. They should return to the office and start communicating with both the broadcasters, the general public and the fans. I believe everyone wants a constructive dialogue, and to find ways to bring the Eurovision Song Contest back on track. We owe it to the millions of people who believe in unity, diversity, peace, love and the celebration of life and music. We owe it to everyone!”

Interesting background article about artists and the support they have https://wiwibloggs.com/2024/05/16/joost-klein-disqualification-what-can-eurovision-learn/281719/

This is a quote:

AD’s insiders claim they “saw it coming”
In the weeks leading up to Eurovision, Dutch daily newspaper Algemeen Dagblad attempted to create a portrait of Joost Klein as a person. The star generally refuses interviews to traditional media. AD tried to gain insight into his character through interviews with people from his surroundings and childhood.

Several people hinted at the fact that Joost’s traumatic childhood has put a larger strain on him than it looks on the outside. Some classed him as vulnerable and wondered whether a pressure cooker like Eurovision was the right place for him. AD said that one person they spoke to from his surroundings “questioned how much pressure he could take”. That person then said, in a quote that was not published in the newspaper back then prior to Eurovision:

“It is a boy who lost both their parents at the ages of 12-13 and then did not get the right support. He is a traumatised victim of his own life, to what extent can he oversee what is waiting for him in Malmö? He really wants to take part in the contest, but should you expose him as a human to such a complicated event?”

Joost Klein is used to controlling everything. But, speaking to AD prior to the incident, the Dutch artist felt like this was slipping away:

“I have always had the control. And that was the first thing I lost when I arrived in Malmö.”

In an interview with AD after the final, an anonymous insider from Joost’s surroundings said that they “saw it coming” that the “Europapa” singer would fall into a conflict, calling him “vulnerable”.

So clearly something that was very much a concern of a few people by the sound of it and was publicly discussed in the Nederlands before the contest. It wasn't remotely a secret as such.