Dutchman Joost Klein excluded from ESC final – police investigate “incident”
The ESC final will take place this year without Joost Klein
Source: dpa/Jessica Gow
The Dutch singer Joost Klein is excluded from the ESC final. The reason is allegations from a woman from the ESC production team. She is said to have filed a complaint on Friday.
Dhe Dutch candidate for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), Joost Klein, has been officially excluded from the competition. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced this on Saturday afternoon. The reason for this is police investigations in the context of an incident after Klein’s semi-final appearance on Thursday evening.
“Swedish police have investigated a complaint from a female member of the production team following an incident following his performance in the semi-finals on Thursday evening. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue to compete,” the EBU wrote. The grand finale of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will now continue with 25 participating songs.
“We would like to clarify that, contrary to some media reports and speculation on social media, no other artists or delegation members were involved in this incident,” the EBU said. It has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior at events and strives to provide a safe working environment for all competition employees. “Against this background, Joost Klein’s behavior towards a team member is viewed as a violation of the competition rules.”
Klein was already missing two run-through samples
On Friday, the musician did not take part in the two rehearsals for the grand finale. According to an EBU statement on Friday, the reason for this was investigations into a case involving the Dutch artist. What this was about was not initially disclosed.
Although Klein appeared at the first rehearsal of the final and was present at the flag parade, he did not rehearse his song “Europapa”. A little later, the EBU decided not to let the singer perform during the second dress rehearsal of the competition. The juries from all participating countries regularly vote on this.
In general, the mood at the ESC this year is tense against the backdrop of the Gaza war. On Thursday, thousands of demonstrators called for Israel to be excluded from the competition. The demonstrations have been peaceful so far – the ESC organizers are still protecting the competition with a huge police presence.
Eden Golan had performed that evening and brought Israel to the final. Even during their rehearsals there were boos from the audience. Belgian television also interrupted the semi-final broadcast with an anti-Israel message.
The European Broadcasting Union EBU would like to keep the ESC free of politics in accordance with its regulations, but this has not been possible in the recent past. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine two years ago, the Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra won with overwhelming approval from the audience and used its victory speech to convey political messages.