After the UK successfully hosted Eurovision last year on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, organizers of the music festival have adopted the BBC slogan «United by Music» for all future song competitions.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in February that the slogan would «serve as a constant reminder of the competition's core mission and its unrivaled ability to bring people together through the universal language of music… Liverpool's legacy of feel-good lives on.»
That well-intentioned sentiment fell apart when contacted with reality here, in Sweden's third largest city. The EBU always says that Eurovision is above politics, even if in reality this has never been the case. But this year's political drama has made it the most controversial since the competition began in 1956.
Events in Gaza, nearly 2,000 miles from Malmo, have cast a long shadow all week and attracted tens of thousands of protesters. loudly demanded that Israel's Eden Golan be excluded from the competition.
The EBU has largely weathered this storm, whipped up by the likes of Greta Thunberg, although it has lost much credibility among groups such as Queers for Palestine, which fans of both Eurovision and Gazans (but should probably look into how Hamas views homosexuality).
Follow the Telegraph's Eurovision 2024 blog for updates.
A Staff member booed after announcing Jost Klein will not participate in the final. Photo: ANDREAS HILLERGEN
At the same time, another crisis emerged when the EBU suspended Joost Klein of the Netherlands after a female staff member complained of an «incident» following his performance in Thursday's semi-final. Swedish police are trying to establish whether he broke any laws, but it took the EBU almost 24 hours to ban him.
The situation turned surreal on Thursday night when Klein, 26, sat next to Golan, 20, at a testy press conference after the semi-final. He was openly hostile towards Israelis, answering questions with a Dutch flag on his head. Other acts publicly expressed their disapproval of Golan's participation.
Klein was suspended the next day and rumors spread that this was due to his criticism of Israel, causing further backlash and leading to Golan being heavily booed on stage.
Unlike many major events, Eurovision is covered by superfans and bloggers who have the same accreditation as the mainstream media and work alongside them.
Greta Thunberg attends an anti-Israel protest in Malmö Photo: JOHAN NILSSON/TT
During the dress rehearsal on Friday, the first time the grand final will be staged as seen by spectators on Saturday night, it was announced that Israel had received zero points in the European tournament. voting is public. There are cheers and applause in the media center, which is marked by anti-Israel sentiments. Two intrepid journalists ostentatiously wore the Star of David in one corner.
Things got even weirder when Italian contestant Angelina Mango walked into the media center unannounced on Friday night and sang John Lennon's «Imagine» in a revealing appeal. for discharge.
Politics have long been a part of Eurovision: from years of needles between Russia and Ukraine to tactical voting based on geographical location (say, all the Baltic and Scandinavian countries vote for each other), and Britain was the last to die in the first post-Brexit competition in 2021.
But after Malmo EBC, we may have to look for a new slogan.
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