Eurovision have banned Palestinian flags and symbols

Eurovision bosses have defended the recent decision to disqualify Joost Klein from the 2024 final.The 26-year-old singer was selected to represent the Netherlands with his song ‘Europapa’ for this year’s edition of the song contest, but was withdrawn from the competition just hours before Saturday’s final (May 11).The incident marked the first time in the competition’s 68-year history that an act had been disqualified after reaching the Grand Final.

Olly Alexander has expressed his gratitude after competing in Eurovision 2024, saying that receiving zero public points was “iconic”.The Years & Years frontman represented the UK with his song ‘Dizzy’ at this year’s competition, which took place in Malmö, Sweden. He finished 18th out of 25 countries – earning 46 points from the jury, but none from the voting public.Nemo clinched victory for Switzerland at Eurovision 2024 with their track ‘The Code’.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Alex Garland’s critically-acclaimed “Civil War” has confirmed a theatrical release in mainland China. Marking the first A24 production to be released in China, it will arrive in cinemas from June 7. Huahua Media took rights to the film for China. Tech and entertainment giant Alibaba will also be partnering with Huahua throughout the release. Depicting a dystopian future America, the film’s story follows a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach Washington DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Eurovision this year “until the last second”.This year’s song contest has seen multiple controversies arise in the build up to the finale, which aired last Saturday (May 11).On top of the shock disqualification of Dutch entry Joost Klein, Eurovision organisers the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) had faced significant criticism for the inclusion of Israel amidst the Israel-Palestine crisis.Additionally, there were reports of a “crisis meeting” between four countries and the EBU just hours before the finale was due to begin. These four countries were later revealed to be the United Kingdom, Portgual, Ireland, and the eventual winner of this year, Switzerland.Now, Norway’s entry Gåte have spoken to Norwegian media about their own threat to pull out.

Eurovision contestant is likely to face charges, according to police.Joost Klein – who was set to represent the Netherlands with his song ‘Europapa’ – was disqualified from the contest in Malmö, Sweden just hours before Saturday’s finale (May 11). At the time, police stated that the decision was made after he was accused of making verbal threats towards a female member of production crew.The incident marked the first time that an act had been disqualified after reaching the Grand Final in the competition’s 68-year history and, before his disqualification, the 26-year-old singer was named as one of the favourites to win.Now, a spokesperson for the police, Jimmy Modin, has spoken to The Guardian about the indecent and revealed that it is looking likely that Klein will face legal action.Modin confirmed that the investigation was over, and a decision about whether or not to press charges should arrive “within the next couple of weeks”.Emil Andersson, the police officer in charge of the case, shared a similar sentiment with Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.This year’s competition, which was ultimately won by Switzerland’s Nemo, was surrounded by controversy for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.A statement shared by the EBU to both The Mirror and The Irish Times read: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both onsite and during their broadcasts. We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.It continued: “The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.A post shared by European Broadcasting Union (@ebu_hq)“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”The statement’s release comes after the slew of controversies that took over this year’s edition of the song contest.

Eurovision entrant Windows95Man quickly drew comparisons to a famous Bart Simpson moment when the singer took to the stage this weekend.Windows95man – real name Teemu Keisteri – performed at the song contest’s grand final at Malmö Arena, Sweden on Saturday (May 11), where Switzerland’s Nemo ultimately won.Dressed in a Windows 95 cap and T-shirt for his song ‘No Rules!’, Windows95man was seemingly naked from the bottom half down and kept up the illusion with some help from the cameramen and his dancers.He even faked a NSFW ‘reveal’ to the live crowd before his denim shorts were lowered down for the outfit chance.While behind-the-scenes pictures reveal that the singer was wearing a pair of skin-coloured modesty underwear, the stunt reminded viewers of the famous moment in The Simpsons Movie where Bart is skateboarding naked through town – and also protected by a series of objects before a brief reveal.“In case you have missed Finland’s performance at the Eurovision song contest tonight, it was pretty much a butt naked inspired Simpson episode and people loved it,” one X user wrote.“This is basically every Simpsons episode that involves nudity,” another wrote.BBC commentator Graham Norton also gave his take on the gag, telling the audience (via Yahoo!): “I would normally find a song like this quite resistible, but I have to say when I was in the arena for the semi-final the other night, I really liked the silly, I just really embraced the silly and it was joyful and lovely… and distracting and great.“You’ve seen quite a lot of male nudity tonight… well, stand by for some more!” he added.

Eurovision ratings have apparently plunged amidst several controversies and boycott calls for this year’s edition.This year, the contest has faced criticism for its inclusion of Israel due to their role in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Due to this political neutrality clause, the EBU announced they reserved the right to remove Palestinian flags and symbols, and would go on to censor Irish contestant Bambie Thug for wearing the word ‘ceasefire’ and ‘freedom for Palestine’ as a hidden message on their costume.Israel’s inclusion prompted boycott calls from the LGBT+ community towards UK entry Olly Alexander, reasoning that the competition was “providing cultural cover and endorsement for the catastrophic violence that Israel has unleashed on Palestinians.”Over 1,000 Swedish artists called for Israel to be banned this year – including Robyn, Fever Ray, and First Aid Kit – and more than 1,400 Finnish music industry professionals have signed a petition to ban the country from taking part in the contest as well.

Eurovision entry Iolanda’s video was reportedly replaced with previous footage due to “pro-Palestine motifs” on her nails.Last night’s contest saw Swiss entry Nemo crowned as its first nonbinary winner in a year marked with controversy due to the EBU’s struggle to enforce its political neutrality clause. This was especially notable in the inclusion of Israel this year, due to their role in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Eurovision winner Nemo hit out at the competition’s “double standard”, branding its organisers as “unbelievable”, moments after their victory.The Switzerland entrant won the contest last night (May 11) in Malmö, Sweden with their song ‘The Code’, after topping the jury vote and coming in fifth in the public vote.Nemo’s victory is the first for the country since Celine Dion picked up the win in 1988 with ‘Ne partez pas sans moi’. They are also the first ever non-binary winner in the competition’s history.During their appearance at the post-show press conference, Nemo took the opportunity to criticise the way that the contest was run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), making specific reference to their policy of not allowing non-binary flags into the arena.“I had to smuggle my flag in because Eurovision said no, but I did it anyway, so I hope some people did that too,” they said.

The Eurovision Song Contest was certainly dramatic with calls for the competition to be boycotted and one act disqualified the day of the Grand Final. But despite the drama, the Contest went ahead on Saturday night in Malmo and reigning champion Loreen handed over the trophy to a new winner. Let's take a look at the final result.

K.J. Yossman Switzerland has won the Eurovision Song Contest. Swiss entry Nemo stormed the contest with the song “The Code,” walking away with 591 points — a combination of a jury vote and public vote.

At the end of a nail biting week of musical performances, the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 finally declared its winner on Saturday evening when Switzerland's Nemo won with their song The Code. The winning performance came after a tense week of surprising mishaps, in which controversy had dogged the 68th edition of the annual song contest for months in the run up to the live shows.

As music lovers around the world tuned into the Eurovision Song Contest’ s grand final on Saturday night, all eyes were on the 25 acts that were hoping to secure victory. Initially 26 countries had been due to compete, but following a controversial decision by the European Broadcasting Union to ban Dutch entrant Joost Klein, only 25 made it to the stage on Saturday evening.

Eurovision entrant Käärijä has announced he will not participate as the spokesperson for the Finnish jury hours before the finale is due to start.Käärijä, who was the runner-up to Eurovision last year with his song ‘Cha Cha Cha’, took to social media to announce that he was pulling out of announcing the Finnish jury’s points for tonight’s competition.On Instagram Stories, Käärijä wrote: “I have decided not to participate as the spokesperson for the Finnish jury in tonight’s Eurovision finale. Giving out the points does not feel right”.

Eurovision host Malin Akerman might be a familiar face to some - and it's not surprising why. The actress is making her Eurovision debut as she co-hosts the Song Contest alongside presenter Petra Mede this year.

It's nearly that time again for the Eurovision grand finale to appear on our small screens.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest has got off to a frenzied start and the final hasn't even begun.

It's nearly been a whole five decades since ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with one of their biggest hits of all time.

Eurovision contestant Joost Klein has been disqualified from the contest after being accused of making verbal threats towards a female member of production crew, police have said.Klein was placed under investigation by the organisers yesterday (May 10) due to an “incident” and was not allowed to perform his song ‘Europapa’ during the final dress rehearsal.A police spokesperson confirmed the incident took place after Klein’s performance on Thursday night at the Malmö Arena where the contest is being held.The EBU, which organises the contest, said in a statement: “The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.“Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s Semi Final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest.“We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.“We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the Contest.