Each 12 months claims to be essentially the most controversial 12 months in Eurovision history, but it is going to take loads to beat the 68th contest.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024, which took place in Malmö, Sweden, was marked by conflicts, boycotts, protests, harassment and disqualifications. Ironically, it was also the 12 months by which the organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, decided to establish a channel everlasting slogan: United through music.
When announcing the slogan at the top of 2023, Martin Österdahl, managing director of Eurovision, said: said:
By establishing a long-lasting slogan, our message that music unites us all will remain consistent. It is the right slogan to underline our values of inclusivity, equality, universality and celebrating diversity through music.
But the backdrop of Hamas' attacks on southern Israel on October 7 and the continued war in Gaza has forged a protracted shadow over Eurovision 2024.
Martin Meissner/AP
Demands the exclusion of Israel
Despite the implicit politics of the brand new Eurovision slogan, the competition maintains that it’s a non-political event. Participating broadcasters and artists are required to make sure The competition will not be
[…] be politicized and/or instrumentalized and/or discredited in any way.
But is it possible for a contest between nations to be apolitical?
Just just like the conflict in Gaza divided the international communityEurovision fans, artists and broadcasters were also divided regarding Israel's participation.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, called on “all participating broadcasters, national competitors, finalists, production teams and viewers.” Boycott the event.
Numerous open letters, co-signed from members of creative Industries, were also published prematurely of the competition. Some called for Israel to be excluded and/or the event to be held boycottedwhile others expressed their support for Israel and the competition as “Celebration of unity“.
Many compared the situation to 2022, when Russia was banned from the competition after its invasion of Ukraine. In response, the European Broadcasting Union emphasized “The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for broadcasters” (not for states), and that included the Russian broadcasters suspended by the organization and the competition for “repeated violations of membership obligations and violation of public media rules.”
So so long as KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, followed the membership and competition rules, it was allowed to take part in the competition.
Some suspect that the printed union's decision itself played a task brought the competition into disreputewhile a anonymous X account is devoted to documenting allegations against KAN regarding compliance with the foundations.
Martin Meissner/AP
The Netherlands are disqualified
Further controversy arose within the 24 hours before the printed of the grand final. The Dutch actor was disqualified for inappropriate behavior towards a member of the Swedish production team. The European Broadcasting Union said it groomed
a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior […] and are committed to providing all competition employees with a secure working environment.
With this commitment to politics in mind, Irish artist Bambie Thug presented before the dress rehearsal Complaint lodged
against the Israeli commentators for comments made during their performance, claiming they’d violated the foundations of the competition. Bambie Thug also said that this was the case harassed from Israeli fans.
The 2024 grand final opened with two strong countries: Sweden and Ukraine. Sweden was represented by the Norwegian twins Marcus and Martinus and their song Unforgettablewhile Ukrainians Alonya Alyona and Jerry Heil sang the mighty ones Teresa and Mary.
Along with Luxembourg, which took part within the competition for the primary time since 1994, Ukraine is the one country to boast a 100% record of qualifying for the grand final.
Victory for Switzerland
Israel took fifth place. Eden Golan's song “Hurricane” entered the competition after the lyrics were revised twice to remove political references, including the unique title “October Rain” (a reference to the October 7 attack).
The crowd's heartbroken response could possibly be heard on the printed, and pictures posted by viewers on social media attests to this widespread booing. Despite this response in the sector, Israel got here second in the general public televoting.
Israel was beaten in the favored vote by audience favorite Baby Lasagna from Croatia. Dim tag team rim is a catchy metal song concerning the impact of economic emigration on young Croatians, their connection to family and their lives cultural identity.
Despite leading the betting odds for a lot of the competition season, Croatia was judge's favorite, The code, by Nemo from Switzerland. They are the primary non-binary artists to win the competition, notably with an artistically impressive and fascinating tribute to their non-binary gender identity.
Martin Meissner/AP
In your Victory speechNemo said:
I hope that this competition can keep its promise and proceed to advocate for peace and dignity for all and sundry on the earth.
With Nemo's victory, presenting duties next 12 months will move to Switzerland, home of the European Broadcasting Union. The country last won the competition in 1988, when it was represented by a little-known French-Canadian artist named Celine Dion. It also hosted (and won) the primary Eurovision competition 1956.
Tensions are high
Many are questioning the long run of the Eurovision Song Contest. Österdahl was almost drowned out by boos from the audience while checking the outcomes. A planned sketch was dedicated to him Excerpt from the last broadcastin addition to the usage of the Dutch song title “Europe” to introduce it.
The audience's response to Österdahl highlights the growing unrest amongst fans and member broadcasters over the union's management of the competition. These include concerns about its partner sponsors (e.g Israeli company Moroccanoil), whether it’s effective Safeguarding freedom of the pressand doubts about its ability to take care of competition as “apolitical.”
There is now loads at stake for the union to work with Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR to persuade the world that they may be united in music in spite of everything.
image credit : theconversation.com