Joost Klein, the ESC candidate from the Netherlands, is excluded from the competition. Before the final on Saturday, chaos threatens to break out at the organizers.
That's it I guess. Joost Klein, who was one of the favorites to win the Eurovision Song Contest with his song “Europapa”, was disqualified by the organizing European Broadcasting Union (EBU). He is said to have verbally attacked an EBU employee after the second semi-final on Thursday. What happened before is not known – nor is the answer to the question of whether Joost really became abusive. Swedish police investigations are ongoing.
For a long time it was not at all clear what was happening with regard to the unexplained incident. Joost Klein was excluded from the first jury test on Friday. There was simply no communication from the EBU.
The Eurovision Song Contest is actually a music competition. However, the music is taking a back seat this year – because poor communication, drama surrounding candidates and protests will determine the competition in 2024.
Wild rumors in the run-up to the competition
The EBU is primarily to blame for this. She did not comment on the situation surrounding Joost Klein for a long time, thereby fueling wild rumors on social networks and in many international media. At one point, the Israeli delegation was said to be to blame for the Dutchman's exclusion, while other rumors said that Joost was said to have hit a photographer. Both turned out to be hot air afterwards.
The EBU could have avoided this complete communication catastrophe if it had shared relevant information with local press representatives in a timely manner. Journalists having to wait more than twelve hours for official information should not happen at such a major event. It causes rumors to spread faster than verified information can be published.
This poor communication led to unpleasant scenes at Friday's rehearsal. When Martin Österdahl, the EBU supervisor, announced during the rehearsal that the test results from the televoting were ready to be announced, the audience in the Malmö Arena booed him loudly.
The music fades into the background
The chaos surrounding the exclusion of the Netherlands from the Eurovision Song Contest fits seamlessly into a turbulent week. The hustle and bustle surrounding the Israeli candidate facing death threats, large demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinian civilians in Gaza, accusations against the Israeli press by Bambi Thug of calling the Irish contribution “satanic”.
In addition, there are calls on social media to vote for Israel in the televoting, regardless of the musical quality – despite the boring contribution, a power ballad, which, given these calls, could have a real chance of standing out against the musically much more interesting competition from Switzerland Croatia, France or Ireland.
This means that the ESC motto “United by Music” no longer applies this year. Rather, the entire event in 2024 will be “United by Chaos”, united in chaos. And that is unworthy of the competition and unfair for the artists who are finally getting the big stage they deserve at the ESC.
