Eurovision 2024 is falling apart at the last minute thanks to an unprecedented 24 to 48 hours of non-stop disharmony and drama.
The slogan of the contest, ironically enough, is “United by Music,” but so far this year, it has been anything but, with major controversy bubbling all around Saturday’s grand final. While the news and every subsequent update are, frankly, depressing, this is going to go down as a very memorable and highly-charged point in Eurovision history, so something needs to be said. The Eurovision subreddit has appropriately termed this as Eurovision’s “dramageddon.”
We will start here: Joost Klein of The Netherlands was disqualified on Saturday for an alleged incident. The details of that criminal investigation are not public at this time; all we know is that Joost, who performed in Thursday’s semifinal, is not allowed to participate in the final.
With regard to other alleged incidents and controversies, there have been many since Friday. A lot of it is speculative via social media and other media outlets. It is not our job here (if this is even really a job) to determine which speculation is true or false, if at all. However, where there is smoke, there is fire, and no doubt there are a lot of participating countries in an unhappy position as Eurovision 2024 is just hours away.
Eurovision 2024 Is Falling Apart: The Netherlands
Joost Klein is out of Eurovision, becoming the first contender in 68 contests to receive disqualification during the event. A week ago, we were talking about him as a potential televote winner, and now, he is out of the running.
The latest from the BBC quotes the EBU’s official statement which notes that a referral for intimidation was made to Swedish authorities against Klein. AVROTROS, the Dutch national broadcaster, has fiercely disputed the disqualification. In their statement, they called the EBU’s actions against Klein as “very heavy and disproportionate” to what was alleged to have happened.
But Wait, There’s More
Cataloging every rumor, allegation, pointing of fingers, and controversy that has arisen since Friday would take a long time and a lot of effort; the final would start and we’d still be writing. Consult the Eurovision Wikipedia page for this year after the dust settles to get a more full picture. In the meantime, some of the more intriguing issues to have come up include:
- Alessandra Mele, Norway’s 2023 representative and 2024 jury spokesperson, has withdrawn.
- Responding to an alleged incident behind the scenes, Spain’s national broadcaster has called for the protection of the freedom of the press at the contest.
- Ireland did not participate in a dress rehearsal as they are contending with the EBU over an alleged rules infraction on the part of another country; Bambie Thug has also taken issue with Israeli’s commentary on their performance.
- Slimane stopped his rehearsal performance to give a speech.
- Rumors swirled about Estonia withdrawing, which turned out to be false.
This Year Is Not That Fun
Things started off fine on Tuesday, but over the last 48 hours, the contest has gone off the rails in a way never before seen. The EBU has completely lost control of the conversation and if nothing else, I would expect a harsh response after Eurovision 2024 is over. Heads are most likely going to roll at the EBU over how this has all gone down, and this is not even to begin about the future stability of the contest. All of that remains to be seen.
Saturday, grand final day, should be a day of celebrating music. It has been very, very far from that, and if you’re feeling a lot of emotions today, I cannot blame you at all.
