Eurovision 2024 disqualifies Netherlands after “incident”

The Netherlands has been banned from the Eurovision Song Contest after an “incident” involving contestant Joost Klein.

The news was announced hours before the annual event’s grand finale, scheduled to take place in Sweden on Saturday (May 11).

The organizer, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), issued a statement saying: “Dutch artist Joost Klein will not take part in the grand final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.”

Klein’s disqualification follows an investigation by Swedish police into a complaint of inappropriate behavior by a female production employee that came after Thursday’s semifinal.

“While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the competition,” the EBU said.

“We would like to clarify that contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, no other artist or delegation member was involved in this incident.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior at our event and are committed to providing a safe working environment for all competition staff.

“Against this background, Joost Klein’s behavior towards a team member is considered a violation of the competition rules.

The organizers announced that the grand finale will take place “with 25 participating songs instead of 26.”

This year’s competition has already been controversial, with calls for a boycott of Israeli participation.

Ahead of the second semifinal on May 9, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in Malmö, Sweden, where this year’s competition is being held, to protest against Israel’s participation.

British participant Olly Alexander became the source of an open letter as the controversy intensified. Many urged him to withdraw from his performances in protest against the country’s ongoing war on Gaza.

The pop singer, who said he felt “sad and disturbed” by the dispute, responded to the open letter signed by Queers for Palestine, a collective of more than 450 queer artists, individuals and organizations, saying his Performance will take place.

Upon request from The times If the controversy had marred his Eurovision experience, Alexander tearfully replied: “Of course there are a lot of things I wish were different. And that’s really much bigger than me and Eurovision.”