Dutch singer Joost Klein was kicked out of and banned from Eurovision on the day of the 2024 grand final. This decision followed an incident where Klein gestured “threateningly” at a cameraman. Klein had made it clear that he did not want to be filmed at the moment and asked the person to stop filming him multiple times before swatting at the cameraman. Klein didn’t touch the person or their equipment. This incident was investigated by Swedish authorities (Eurovision was hosted in Sweden that year), and they found no evidence of malicious intent from the singer. However, the damage was already done.
Eurovision, or the Eurovision Song Contest as it is officially known, is a yearly competition open to all countries who are members of the European Broadcasting Union and Australia. This means that countries which are not officially recognized as part of Europe have been allowed to participate in the past, including Morocco, Cyprus and Israel. The inclusion of non-European countries has been a subject of controversy in the past, with many believing the competition should be restricted to only European states and Australia. Important note, Australia has been allowed to participate since 2015, the 60th anniversary of the competition, as they were the largest viewer of Eurovision outside of Europe. The decision to include Australia has been widely accepted by viewers.
The rules of the competition have changed over the years, with many of these changes unfairly placing lower expectations on some countries and allowing actions, like those which got Klein kicked off, from other participants. One of the major points of contention in the rules was the creation of the “Big Five.” In 1999, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom—and later Italy—were exempt from all possible exclusion from the competition. Once the competition became too large for every country to compete every year, a rule was created that barred the lowest scoring countries from competing the next year. Later, the system was changed so that all countries would compete in a series of semi-finals, with the top 10 countries, the “Big Five” and that year’s host country going on to compete in the finals. This rule essentially gave a third of the available slots to the same five countries every year without having to compete for them.
Other controversial rules include: the banning of overtly political songs, a ban which seems to be upheld based on the contents of the political message, the banning of Russia following the 2021 invasion of Ukraine and the banning of contestants waving any flag other than the one of the country they are representing. The flag ban essentially keeps the contestants from bringing pride flags on stage; this choice was critiqued by many as Eurovision has often marketed itself towards queer individuals. These rules have been applied inconsistently, with Belarus having two songs banned due to anti-Putin messaging, while Israel was allowed to perform “October Rain,” a song about the events of Oct. 7.
There have been many other controversies surrounding the actions of Eurovision that aren’t enshrined in any official rules, yet are often treated as such. For many years, the jury votes, which allow each country to award between one and 12 points to each of the top 10 countries chosen by the country’s general voting public, have been seen as political votes. These points have tended to fall along political lines, with countries awarding more points to ally countries. Often, this unequal treatment goes beyond the actions of countries participating in Eurovision and into the actions of Eurovision itself.
Many countries, performers and fans have alleged mistreatment and favoritism from the organization, Joost Klein’s exclusion being one of these allegations. Klein made a comment during an interview implying that the participation of Israel put the other contestants at risk. At first glance, this comment seems somewhat unfounded, as while many might disagree with the inclusion of Israel, there isn’t a direct harm towards other contestants caused by their participation. However, there have been many allegations coming from former contestants about the behavior of the Israeli delegation. Accusations include harassing other contestants, filming members when they asked not to be filmed and sending threats to other contestants. It now makes sense why many assume that the camerawoman who filmed Klein without his permission was a part of the Israeli delegation.
While the political aspect of these unequally applied rules angers many, others are angered at the injustice of the acts. To allow one country, from which your largest sponsor originates, to act with impunity and punish other contestants is not only unfair, but against the premise of the competition. If Eurovision wants to continue including Israel in their competition there are many changes that need to be made: including, but not limited to, unbanning Russia and Belarus, allowing political messaging in songs or not allowing ANY amount of political messaging, unrestricting the flags allowed and reworking the jury vote system to discourage political voting.
Eurovision’s attempt at framing the competition as “non-political” is no longer functioning. The competition was founded after World War Two in an attempt to reunite Europe; however, they have strayed from that idea year after year, an idea that was already lofty to begin with. Eurovision should embrace its origins and return to being a contest meant to exist beyond the political landscape or acknowledge that the political climate is far more complex than post-World War Two and alter their rules to fit the current state of the world.
