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”.
There is also a source who says it has been blown out of proportion. We’ll have to wait and see what happened exactly.
Edit: apparently there was an agreement that Joost would not be filmed when he came off stage, but this woman filmed him anyway. He asked her multiple times to stop and when she didn’t comply he swinged his arm or hand towards the camera. He hasn’t touched her.
Dutch TV just released a statement that he made a ‘threatening gesture’ towards a camerawoman that was filming him when he came off stage after he asked not to be filmed
Whether or not it’s out of proportion would depend on which gesture I guess. But the organisation is claiming a zero tolerance policy so there’s that