singing competition
Europe finds Nemo at Chaos ESC – Germany twelfth
Eurovision Song Contest winner Nemo from Switzerland speaks during the press conference after the final
© Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva/DPA
Germany is finally not last, but middle field. But the Eurovision Song Contest is probably experiencing its darkest hour. There are always boos in the hall. Not just against Israel.
Not a bit of peace at the Eurovision Song Contest? Does 2024 mean Waterloo for the world’s biggest music show? Depressing puns with major Grand Prix winning titles are obvious. It was overshadowed by protests and a disqualification ESC in Malmö is not a peaceful show, as the audience is used to from this meeting for international understanding through music.
Germany landed in twelfth place out of 25 finalists with singer Isaak and the song “Always On The Run”, ending the long-standing series of last and penultimate places. “I’m very happy. I’m super happy, super strong,” said the 29-year-old after the end of the show. Switzerland won with Nemo on Sunday night. The winning track “The Code” is a wild genre mix of pop, rap, opera, drum ‘n’ bass and a James Bond song.
This time, the supposedly unifying show with the motto “United by Music” saw demonstrations and arrests outside, boos and hollers inside – everyone was divided rather than united. Switzerland won for the first time since 1988, when Céline Dion won the trophy. Hearing his name in connection with the star singer: what the hell! Nemo was happy after the victory in English (“To hear my name next to Celine fucking Dion – what the fuck. I think this is so special for Switzerland”). The musician Baby Lasagna from Croatia came second overall with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, followed by Ukraine, France and Israel.
Nemo: “Maybe the ESC needs a bit of repair”
Winning act Nemo (who has the same name as the clownfish from the American Pixar animated film “Finding Nemo”) lives in Berlin and identifies as non-binary (“I don’t feel like a man or a woman”). After winning, Nemo accidentally broke the trophy on stage and received a replacement prize. “The trophy can be repaired – maybe the ESC needs a little bit of repair too,” said Nemo ambiguously.
What was going on there? The four-hour ESC final was repeatedly disrupted by loud boos. The background was protests against the participating country Israel and dissatisfaction with the organizers’ decision to disqualify the Dutch participant Joost Klein (26) from the final. Klein was excluded at short notice on Saturday. According to the Dutch television station Avrotros, the background was allegations that he had made an aggressive gesture towards a camerawoman.
The Dutch public broadcaster filed an official complaint against the decision. Before the start of the traditional awarding of points by the juries from the ESC countries, ESC boss Martin Österdahl received dissatisfied murmurs and loud boos from the audience. Désirée Nosbusch from Luxembourg, Joanna Lumley from Great Britain and Ina Müller from Germany were involved in the scoring.
Anti-Israel protesters protested in front of the hall in Malmö
The show was particularly affected by anti-Israel protests in front of and in the hall. They were directed against the organizers’ decision to allow Israel to compete despite the Gaza war with which more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, with which the Jewish state responded to the massacres carried out by Palestinian terrorists in Israel on October 7th. In this context, critics accuse the organizers of double standards because the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) excluded Russia because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Police officers led climate activist Greta Thunberg (21), whose mother came 21st for Sweden at the ESC in 2009, with other demonstrators from the square in front of the arena after the mood there had heated up. At the first demonstrations in the evening, the police described the attitude among the 6,000 to 8,000 participants as “peaceful” – but at the much smaller gathering in front of the hall, the emergency services took greater action and cordoned off the area. Several troublemakers were arrested outside.
There were also repeated calls of protest against Israel’s act from the audience in the hall. The attempts at disruption continued throughout the evening. As soon as the Israeli singer Eden Golan (20), who had to be shielded the entire time in Sweden, came on stage during the nations’ entry, whistles could be heard in the hall. When she performed her song “Hurricane,” Golan later had to endure numerous whistles and loud boos. The boos then got louder again when the Israeli jury’s points were awarded.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the performer before the show on Platform X: “Eden proudly stands up to enormous hatred and anti-Semitism,” he wrote. Germany’s television audience gave Israel the highest score of 12 in the televoting.