Eurovision is supposed to be a celebration. Those lucky enough to bag tickets to the live shows are usually seen on TV dancing around the arena, cheering and having a fabulous time.
But during the jury show at this year’s song contest in Sweden, the atmosphere was anything but jubilant. Instead, the scenes inside the Malmö Arena were tense, and it’s not hard to guess why.
Clips shared online show how the usual cheers and applause were replaced by hostility, all of it directed at Eden Golan, Israel’s entry in this year’s competition. As she launched into her performance for the night, footage shows Golan being drowned out by booing and chants of “Free Palestine” from the audience. According to one attendee in the crowd, who shared their experience online, the “atmosphere inside the arena was horrible”.
Except for Australia, all participating countries are a member of the EBU, which is why they can enter.
Indirectly so is Australia since they have the BBC as well.
And Australia got invited to join (officially as a guest, I think) because the competition was super popular in Australia already.
While the ACTUAL reason is TV revenue for EBU, I prefer to see it as them being allowed to join because of the enthusiasm of the people 😁❤️