Dutch artist excluded from Eurovision Song Contest’s second dress rehearsal due to ‘incident’ investigation

Eurovision Song Contest entrant Joost Klein from the Netherlands will not perform at a second dress rehearsal for the grand finale while an investigation into an unspecified “incident” continues, organizers said.

The 26-year-old Dutch rapper and singer qualified on Thursday night at the Malmö Arena in Sweden with his uptempo song Europapa, a tribute to his late parents.

He was briefly seen rehearsing during the flag parade on Friday before missing the performance of his track.

A statement from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said: “The investigation into the incident involving the Dutch artist at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is still ongoing.

“Discussions are also taking place between the EBU and Avrotros, the Dutch participating broadcaster.

“While the investigation is ongoing, the EBU has decided that Joost Klein will not perform at the second dress rehearsal of the competition, which will be voted on by juries in the 37 participating countries.

“Instead, his performance from semi-final two will be used.”

Spanish state broadcaster told event organizers that “press and opinion” must be respected.

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This year’s competition was marked by controversy over Israel’s involvement in the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israeli artist Eden Golan, whose emotional song “Hurricane” was a reworking of an earlier track called “October Rain,” which supposedly refers to Hamas’ attacks on Israel that sparked the conflict, will take part in Saturday’s finale.

RTVE also announced it would host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid on November 16 after previous winner France turned down the opportunity.

The media event, where Ana Maria Bordas, head of the Spanish delegation, announced that Madrid would be the next host of the junior version of the competition, was conducted in a manner that apparently left no questions asked.

The EBU had previously canceled a media conference with British participant Olly Alexander and the other acts who were automatically allocated places in the grand final.

An email from the organizers said: “Please note that the Big Five and Sweden media conference originally scheduled for 6.30pm has been canceled as all artists want to concentrate on rehearsals.”

This also happened when the EBU website appeared to have encountered technical difficulties, displaying “Access Denied” and denying entry clearance.

Alexander and Ireland’s Bambie Thug will be among the 26 nations vying for the title from 8pm BST on Saturday evening.