Eurovision: The Netherlands reveals why Joost Klein was disqualified from the Grand Final

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The Netherlands has shed more light on the “incident” that led to the disqualification of Dutch delegate Joost Klein from the Eurovision Song Contest.

Klein was unable to appear at the event a few hours before the event’s scheduled date because police were investigating a complaint about inappropriate behavior by a female member of the production team.

This year’s turbulent competition, won by Swiss delegate Nemo, continued with 25 acts including Britain’s Olly Alexander, who struggled to score points, and Israel’s Eden Golan, who was beaten by those gathered at the arena in Malmö, Sweden , was booed.

The organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), issued a statement saying: “While the legal process is taking its course, it would not be appropriate for it to continue the competition.”

AVROTROS, which organizes the Netherlands’ participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, said it was unimpressed by the decision and said it had proposed “several solutions” to the problem.

The incident occurred on Thursday (May 9) during the semi-finals, after which the Dutch television channel shed more light on the event.

According to AVROTROS, Klein “repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed,” which “resulted in a threatening movement from Joost toward the camera.”

They said: “Joost didn’t touch the camerawoman.”

The EBU confirmed that “contrary to some media reports and speculation on social media, no other artist or delegation member was involved in this incident.”

After Klein was disqualified, AVROTROS said it was “the penalty was very high and disproportionate” and explained: “We stand for good manners – let’s make no mistake about it – but in our opinion a disqualification order is disproportionate to this incident .” “

Explaining its decision, the EBU said: “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.”

Switzerland won the Eurovision Song Contest with a whopping 591 points, closely followed by Croatia with 547 points.

Rounding out the top five were Ukraine (453 points), France (445 points) and Israel, which received a full 12 points in the UK public vote. The country’s act, Eden Golan, received a total of 375 points but, as Graham Norton noted, received boos from the audience.

British entry Olly Alexander came 18th out of 25, receiving just 46 points for his song “Dizzy”, none of which came from the public televote.