It has been revealed that six international locations competing in Eurovision 2024 almost pulled out of the music contest, simply 25 minutes earlier than the reside remaining.
The grand remaining of the competitors happened in Malmö, Sweden – the house of 2023 winner Loreen – on Saturday Could 11. Nevertheless, the present was mired by widespread political backlash over the inclusion of Israel amid the Hamas-Israel battle.
Lots of the contestants, together with Eire’s Bambie Thug and UK consultant Olly Alexander, confronted strain to boycott the occasion in solidarity with Palestine. However in a collective assertion, the 2 reaffirmed their pro-Palestine stance while asserting they might not boycott.
There have been additionally a lot of calls to boycott the competitors from varied international locations within the run-up to this yr’s version. Over 1,000 Swedish artists referred to as for Israel to be banned, together with Robyn, Fever Ray, and First Help Equipment, while over 1,400 Finnish music trade professionals signed a petition to ban the nation from participating within the contest as properly.
Additional criticism emerged when it was reported that Eurovision organisers reserved the appropriate to take away Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols throughout this yr’s remaining, and once more defended the choice to not boycott Israel over the warfare in Gaza.
Israel competed on the finale, and earlier than the reside occasion, contestant Eden Golan mirrored on the boos from the viewers, stating that “nothing would deter” her from representing Israel on the competitors.
Regardless of the backlash and the protests that adopted, the ultimate appeared to go down fairly easily on the night time. The 2024 version was in the end received by Switzerland’s Nemo – who turned the primary ever non-binary winner, and the primary particular person to safe the victory for the nation since 1988, when Celine Dion competed with ‘Ne partez pas sans moi’.
Now, over two weeks for the reason that occasion happened, it has been reported by varied retailers that the EBU narrowly averted quite a few international locations withdrawing on the final second.
In response to Norwegian newspaper VG (by way of WiwiBloggs), six international locations wished to withdraw as much as 25 minutes earlier than the beginning of the ultimate. These have been the profitable Switzerland, in addition to Eire, Portugal, Norway, Greece and the UK.
If all of them had backed out, it will have resulted in solely 19 international locations competing within the remaining, and left producers with almost 20 minutes of content material to fill on the final second.
One of the vital vocal about their temptation to tug out of the occasion was Magnus Børmark, a member of the Norwegian band Gåte.
“We have been contemplating withdrawing till the final second. Many people reacted to the truth that Israel had the chance to make use of Eurovision as its personal political instrument,” the guitarist defined.
“Our frequent level was that we didn’t wish to take part in Eurovision for use and stigmatised in a warfare propaganda machine in Israel. We participated to create an area the place we will unite in music – in a political scenario the place everybody chooses sides and hates one another.
“It appeared as if there was one algorithm for Israel, one other for the remaining… There’s something flawed whenever you expertise it. The artists shouldn’t must have a disaster assembly with the EBU.”
One other who was vocal in regards to the inclusion of Israel and tempted to withdraw was Bambie Thug, who was pressured to take away the phrases ‘ceasefire’ and ‘freedom for Palestine’ in a medieval script from their costume, and later declared “fuck the EBU” after the competition.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has reported that the variety of artists wanting to tug out of the occasion got here to a head on the remaining, and “your entire remaining day turned one lengthy disaster assembly” for the EBU and host broadcaster SVT.
It’s unclear what was negotiated and why the six international locations discovered participation acceptable in the long run.
Greece’s broadcaster ERT has now denied any plans to withdraw. Talking to the Eurovisionfun web site, a spokesperson stated: “We by no means mentioned or thought-about withdrawing from the competitors for any purpose. The publication (VG) is inaccurate no less than in relation to Greece.”
Israel has beforehand refuted any wrongdoing, and claimed that its workforce confronted “unprecedented hatred” in the course of the competitors.
The controversies on this yr’s contest have been seen elsewhere too, as Portuguese entry Iolanda’s remaining efficiency was apparently changed with separate footage resulting from her “pro-Palestine” nails, and Netherlands’ entry Joost Klein was disqualified simply hours earlier than the competition for allegedly making verbal threats in direction of a feminine member of the manufacturing crew.
After their victory on the night time, Nemo appeared to allude on the points plaguing Eurovision this yr by suggesting it’d want “fixing”.
Since then, the BBC has responded to complaints about this yr’s Eurovision protection saying “some elements of the printed…didn’t enchantment to everybody”, and it has been reported that this yr’s finale broke international viewing figures regardless of protests and backlash.
