Hundreds of queer artists urge Olly Alexander to boycott Eurovision 2024 over Israel’s participation

The Great Escape over its ties to Barclays bank.The Brighton-based festival is sponsored by the bank, which has been a source of controversy amid the current events in Gaza because of its financial investment in companies that supply arms to Israel.The issue was first highlighted by a petition started by the promoter How to Catch a Pig and the band The Menstrual Cramps, and has since been signed by artists including Kneecap, Lambrini Girls, Alfie Templeman, Lip Critic, Wunderhorse and Mary in the Junkyard who have urged the festival to drop Barclays as a sponsor. Altogether, 208 of the 440 bands who had originally been booked for the line-up have signed the petition, which has 977 signees in total.It reads: “A bank that is involved in Israel’s genocide has no place at The Great Escape, which is a fixture of the independent music scene and has a prized place in the industry.

Megan the Stallion is baring it all.

Eurovision 2024 fever is in full swing and we’re now just weeks away from the main event in Sweden.

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Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and EventsApril kicked off with Beyoncé being presented with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Awards in Los Angeles.

Ellise Shafer TikTok is returning as the official entertainment partner for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. This marks the social media platform’s third year teaming up with Eurovision, the world’s largest music event.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With one week to go before the press conference unveiling the 77th Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, director Thierry Fremaux is pledging to remain zen — despite wrestling with submission delays, reverberations of Hollywood’s double strikes and high expectations after last year’s edition unveiled Oscar winners “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” This year’s edition is already heating up, with George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” confirmed to premiere at the festival and Quentin Dupieux’s “A Second Act,” starring Léa Seydoux, set as the opening night film. In his first and only interview ahead of the lineup reveal, Fremaux tells Variety all about this year’s edition, including his hopes to welcome back Francis Ford Coppola with “Megalopolis” and Yorgos Lanthimos with “Kinds of Kindness,” his appeal to Ted Sarandos to lure Netflix back on the Croisette, his stance on France’s new #MeToo reckoning, the presence of female directors at the festival and how geopolitical turmoil may shape the Official Selection. Last year was a milestone year for the Cannes Film Festival. How did you approach this year’s lineup, and how many films have been selected so far? The unanimous feedback we got is that 2023 was a really great year.

This year’s UK Eurovision entry has rejected calls for him to boycott this year’s Song Contest in protest at Israel being included in the competition.

Olly Alexander is responding to calls for him to boycott the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, but he says he will not be withdrawing from the competition.

Olly Alexander has confirmed that he will not boycott this year’s Eurovision, despite Israel’s inclusion, saying “it wouldn’t bring us any closer to our shared goal”.The UK’s entry in this year’s competition has faced calls to withdraw in solidarity with Palestine, but it appears that will not be happening.In a personal statement posted on his social media accounts, he said: “I wholeheartedly support action being taken to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the return of all hostages and the safety and security of all civilians in Palestine and Israel.“I know some people will choose to boycott this year’s Eurovision and I understand and respect their decision.”Queers for Palestine sent me their letter asking me to withdraw from the ESC earlier this week and I responded to them directly, I’m sharing my response here alongside this mornings collective artist statement

Olly Alexander and a number of other performers have released a joint statement about their participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after calls to boycott the competition in solidarity with Palestine.Yesterday (March 28) hundreds of queer artists, individuals and organisations called on Alexander to pull out of the competition this year, after its refusal to expel Israel.Now, Alexander, alongside Ireland’s Bambie Thug, Norway’s Gåte, Portugal’s Iolanda, San Marino’s Megara, Switzerland’s Nemo, Denmark’s SABA, Lithuania’s Silvester Belt and Finland’s Windows95Man, have signed a letter outlining their response.“We want to begin by acknowledging the privilege of taking part in Eurovision,” it begins.pic.twitter.com/VBNQWwPe46— olly alexander (@alexander_olly) March 29, 2024“In light of the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in Gaza, and in Israel, we do not feel comfortable being silent. It is important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages.

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Coldplay, Vampire Weekend and Beabadoobee are among the names that have been added to the huge line-up for BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2024.This year’s edition of the festival is set to run between Friday, May 24 and Sunday, May 26, and will be held at Stockwood Park in Luton.The names for the first two nights had already been announced, and now the line-up for Sunday has been confirmed, with Coldplay topping the bill on the Main Stage.We'll be closing out #BigWeekend Luton with a headline performance from @coldplay on Sunday 26th May! ✨For more details and info on tickets, visit https://t.co/4t4HBZtjzI pic.twitter.com/9gvRfS50OO— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) March 20, 2024“We wouldn’t be anywhere without Radio 1 and we’re super excited to come to Luton this year and play Big Weekend,” the band said about their inclusion on the line-up.Rounding out the Main Stage bill on Sunday will be Declan McKenna, Olly Alexander, Sabrina Carpenter and Vampire Weekend.Tickets for the weekend go on sale at 5pm tomorrow (March 21), and will cost £29.50, plus a £4.50 booking fee. Full information on how to get yours can be found here.The festival has also confirmed the line-up for the New Music Stage on Sunday, May 26, with Beabadoobee taking top billing.

UPDATED with more signatories: Reaction continues to The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer‘s acceptance speech after his film won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film this month.

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In a sign that the Eurovision Song Contest is becoming ever more political as we head towards the competition in May, a London cinema has announced that it will not be screening the Grand Final unless Israel is banned from taking part.

Naman Ramachandran London’s biggest screening party for the Eurovision Song Contest finals has been canceled, the venue Rio Cinema and organizer Eurovision Party London have said. “Following discussion with the organizers of Eurovision Party London, we have collectively decided not to screen the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest this year while Israel remains in the competition,” the Rio Cinema said in a statement on X.

Brian Eno, Nadine Shah and Maxine Peake will be among the performers at a special benefit event in support of Palestine at London’s Union Chapel on April 18. The show, which is titled Sumud and promises “a fundraising evening of music, spoken word and film for Palestine”, will be hosted by Amos Trust and Palestine Music Expo, and tickets are available here. All proceeds will go to Amos Trust’s emergency appeal for Gaza.

SXSW has issued a statement about artists and bands pulling out of the festival in support of Palestine.Artists such as NewDad, Cardinals, Enola Gay and others have recently dropped out of the festival due to the event’s association with the US army and weapons companies amid the Israel-Gaza conflict.Yesterday, Texas governor Greg Abbott took to X (formerly Twitter) to write: “Bands pull out of SXSW over U.S. Army Sponsorship. Bye.

Selome Hailu Texas governor Greg Abbott is slamming the artists boycotting SXSW due to the festival’s U.S. Army sponsorship — but SXSW doesn’t want his support. “Bands pull out of SXSW over U.S.