The Netherlands’ Joost Klein has been banned from Eurovision rehearsals as the EBU investigates the ‘incident’

Joost Klein was excluded from Friday afternoon’s major dress rehearsal as the EBU investigates a reported “incident”. This would have been his last chance to rehearse on stage before tonight’s jury final.

On Friday our bloggers were at the Malmö Arena and saw the Dutch singer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 marching in the opening flag parade. However, when it came time for Joost to rehearse – he performs at number 5 – he was nowhere to be seen. During the voting recap, footage from his semi-final performance was played instead.

This suggests that the EBU made a hasty decision sometime between the flag parade and his scheduled rehearsal, after Luxembourg in 4th place and just ahead of Israel in 6th, in a statement released shortly after reports of Joost’s absence emerged , the EBU confirmed that it is investigating an incident.

In a message to the WhatsApp group in the press room, the EBU said:

“We are currently investigating an incident reported to us involving the Dutch artist. He will not rehearse until further notice. We have no further comment at this time and will update in due course.”