During the flag parade at the beginning of the last genre before the evening, the artists from Ireland, Greece and Switzerland were missing.
Bambie Thug: Calls for Israel to be banned from the finals
When the Irish artist Bambie Thug was supposed to sing, a previous performance was played instead. The artist wrote on Instagram about the reason why he didn’t show up:
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“A situation arose while we were waiting to go on stage that I felt I needed to bring to the EBU’s attention. The EBU has taken this seriously and we have had a discussion about what needs to be done. This means I miss the dress rehearsal.”
The Irish artist says that Israel should no longer be allowed to participate in Eurovision, according to Irish RTE. The artist believes that Israel broke the rules of the competition through something that Israel’s commentator said during Tuesday’s semi-final.
It should be about the commentator warning television viewers who have children that the artist’s contribution would be “the most frightening of the evening”.
The commentator also said that there “will be a lot of dark clothing, satanic symbols and voodoo dolls” and that the artist likes to “talk negatively about Israel”.
The Norwegian presenter withdraws
Alessandra Mele, who was supposed to present Norway’s score during tonight’s final, decided to drop out of the assignment, just hours before the final. The reason is said to be the tense situation surrounding Eurovision in Malmö, reports The daily newspaper.
– “United by music”, Eurovision’s motto, is the reason why I make music. But right now they are just empty words, she says in a video on Instagram that ends with the words “Free Palestine”.
France’s artist Slimane interrupted his performance during the genre rep with a speech about peace.
– When I was a child, I dreamed of music. This dream. To be a singer, to sing peace, he said.
He also quoted the competition’s slogan “United by music”.