The European Commission has expressed anger over a ban on EU flags at the Eurovision Song Contest and demands explanations.
The allegations, made by several spectators who attended the Grand Final on Saturday and were told off for carrying the flags, quickly turned viral and prompted a stern rebuke from Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas.
“Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.
“Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”
There’s seems to be no end to serious failures of the Eurovision leadership. Jury votes, Israel and now EU flagban.
Don’t forget the Netherlands ban
Wait why did they get banned?
There was some kind of incident between the artist and a camera woman. The exact details aren’t public, AFAIK.
According to AVROTROS, Klein “repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed”, which “led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera”. They said: “Joost did not touch the camera woman.”
This was backstage btw. Idk if raising your fist as a gesture against a camera, when you told them to fuck off multiple times is deserving of the kind of shit he is getting. But who knows, i wasnt there.
Not wanting to be filmed backstage at an event seems pretty normal IMO as backstage is where a lot of prep work happens. It probably not safe for untrained personnel and/or might reveal things that people don’t want on camera (like costume malfunctions that are being worked out)
Also, it was literally seconds after he had finished singing an ode to his dead dad, so a very emotionally raw moment.
Which is why he had an agreement with everyone that he was not to be filmed at that time. An agreement that the obnoxious camera woman had agreed to prior to figuratively pissing all over it.
Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal, even if you don’t follow through. It’s not just a rule, it’s also a law.
And yes , there are different jurisdictions for everything, but show me a jurisdiction that doesn’t have such a law
Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal
That’s just your assumption. What I’ve read is that he tried to physically turn the camera away from his face and the obnoxious camera woman reported that as a threat.
Either way, banning him from a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at one of the biggest music events in the world is WAY out of proportion, especially as he was just defending himself from having his privacy invaded in a very emotional moment (just after singing an ode to his dead dad)
“a backstage incident involving a female crew member”
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the annual event, taking place this year in Malmo, Sweden, said police were investigating the incident involving the singer Joost Klein and that it would not be appropriate for him to participate.
Bah. Croatia was robbed anyway.
Look at this shit. Laser cows. Laser goats!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBjarAiAVc
Also, look at the music video!
I have given up on ever understanding Eurovision
It’s not for understanding, it’s just for enjoying.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=YIBjarAiAVc
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=xTBrVNZtnys
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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Eurovision: we want to expand into North America and get US broadcasters in on the event so that we have a larger viewer base and make more money.
Also Eurovision: geoblocks Eurovision in the US so Americans can’t watch, meaning Eurovision has a non-existent viewer base in the US and isn’t financially viable for American broadcasters to invest in.
Seriously, my biggest complaint about Eurovision, besides all the bullshit that went on this year, is that they’ve made it nearly impossible for Americans to show interest in it; despite the fact they’ve expressed the interest in expanding into the US.
“Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.
“Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”
Not all participants are in the EU. Strictly-speaking, you can maybe argue that the identical flag also applies to most non-EU members as the Flag of Europe, given that pretty much everyone is in the Council of Europe, but it probably still won’t cover Australia.
That being said, I mean, I don’t really see the problem of someone holding the EU flag if they can hold their national flag. I mean, a flag doesn’t have to apply to everyone.
Besides, the thing is “Eurovision” already, not “Euroaustraliovision”. If you want the venue to be some sort of generic thing decoupled from Europe, you’ve already done the branding wrong in rather more-significant ways.
can you think of any other countries that the EU flag wouldn’t represent who were getting boo’d and are also home to Eurovision’s biggest corporate sponsor?
I don’t know what you’re referring to, but if it’s the UK, you’ve got the Flag of Europe-also-represents-the-Council-of-Europe case, and the UK is in that.
I guess Belarus isn’t in the Council of Europe. And Russia is either out or suspended or something. I don’t know what the situation is with them, but apparently they both also got kicked out of Eurovision, so kind of an academic question.
EDIT: Yeah, Russia is out of the Council of Europe.
ISRAEL dude, fucking ISRAEL. Moroccan Oil is an Israeli company
ISRAEL
Ah, fair enough. And speaking of Moroccan Oil, looking at Wikipedia, Morocco has apparently also competed, and also isn’t in the Council of Europe or European Union:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest
Israel’s first win in 1978 proved controversial for Arab states broadcasting the contest which would typically cut to advertisements when Israel performed due to a lack of recognition of the country, and when it became apparent Israel would win many of these broadcasters cut the feed before the end of the voting.[316][317][318] Arab states which are eligible to compete have declined to participate due to Israel’s presence, with Morocco the only Arab state to have entered Eurovision, competing for the first, and as of 2023 the only time, in 1980 when Israel was absent.[319][320]
sure thing, but Morrocan Oil is an Israeli company thats a massive sponsor of the Eurovish
i want answers on why eleni foureia was robbed over that awful chicken song in 2018
