The winner of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Nemo, has said they are returning their trophy in protest over Israel’s continued participation in the event.
The 26-year-old Swiss singer said there is a “clear conflict” between Israel’s involvement in the competition and the ideals of “unity, inclusion and dignity” the contest says it stands for.
Israel’s presence at Eurovision has been an increasing source of tension, because of the war in Gaza and a voting controversy during this year’s event.
Five countries - Iceland, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands - have announced they will boycott next year’s event because Israel has been allowed to compete.
Israel has previously called the decision to keep it in the contest a “victory” over critics who had tried to silence it and spread hatred.
Nemo became the first non-binary performer to lift the Eurovision trophy with their song The Code, which is about the path to realising they were non-binary.
After the win, Nemo told the BBC about the challenges they faced during the contest and their feeling that organisers didn’t do enough to support participants who were caught up in the row over Israel’s inclusion in 2024.
Continue reading here - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q5504vv0ko
I would’ve sold it and given the money to the Palestinians, but this is good too.
Entirely possible that like with Oscars they (Eurovision) have to be offered before you can sell to a different entity.
Eurovision is no longer a competition promoting the best songs but a political platform for 10y already
It has always been part of a political program, basically to introduce countries to each other to form more of a union.
fostered programming exchanges between members and mediated technical disputes between members
Now I’m curious. Was there a money prize as well as the trophy? If so, was the money returned? Still though, good move.
I think the prize is the pubicity, as well as a free ad spot for you when you get to perform as the halftime event at the next one, which was last year, and IIRC Nemo took the opportunity to call attention to Palestine as much as he could there as well.
Would prefer if any money wasnt returned tbh, we dont need bad people having more money
So some religious fanatics in the Middle East are killing each others and Europes biggest LGBQT event is going down in flames?
Pretty much, because the organisers of this event won’t follow their own rules and does anything and everything to keep the genociders participating.
To reiterate, the turmoil is not directly because of the genocide, but it’s because EBU (the organisers) refuse to allow its members to even vote on whether Israel (who have constantly been breaking the rules in recent years) are allowed to participate, despite EBU’s own rules clearly stating that such votings should be conducted.
The double standard is unbelievably biased and has permanently destroyed the contest’s reputation.
I wrote up some of the details here for more context. I agree entirely with your read. https://sh.itjust.works/post/51460656
If it were only religious fanatics killing each other maybe not, the reason people are taking a stance is because the religious fanatics are also mass muderding innocent (though religious) people.
You seem lime a fanatic to me who is fine with a settler colonial project murdering the people they colonize
I never heard someone describe the Eurovision Song Contest like that. It’s a popularity contest among some countries not explicitly from Europe.
It’s less a popularity contest than a marketing event for the entertainment industry.
