Joost Klein from the Netherlands disqualified from Eurovision 2024
Dutch artist Joost Klein has been disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Netherlands' artist Joost Klein, 26, and his song "Europapa," have been disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has issued a statement:
STATEMENT FROM THE EBU
The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s Semi Final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest.
We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.
We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the Contest. In light of this, Joost Klein’s behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of Contest rules.
The Grand Final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will now proceed with 25 participating songs.
The disqualification comes after Joost Klein didn't appear at the rehearsals on Friday, and the EBU stated that they were investigating an incident involving the Dutch artist.
AVROTROS: Heavy and disproportionate penalty
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, who is responsible for the Netherland's Eurovision artist and song, has released a statement calling the "penalty very heavy and disproportionate":
STATEMENT FROM AVROTROS
An incident occurred after last Thursday's performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the green room. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn't respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camerawoman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police.
Yesterday and today we consulted extensively with the EBU and proposed several solutions. Nevertheless, the EBU has still decided to disqualify Joost Klein. AVROTROS finds the penalty very heavy and disproportionate. We stand for good manners – let there be no misunderstanding about that – but in our view, an exclusion order is not proportional to this incident.
We are very disappointed and upset for the millions of fans who were so excited for tonight. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe shouldn’t have ended this way.
NPO: "Very drastic"
The Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO) says it regrets the disqualification of Joost Klein.
– The NPO considers this a very drastic decision. This is a disappointment for the millions of Eurovision fans in the Netherlands and other European countries. We will extensively evaluate the course of events after the Eurovision Song Contest with AVROTROS, the EBU, and all other parties involved.
Cornald Maas: Disproportionate and very drastic
The Dutch Eurovision commentator since 2004, Cornald Maas, calls the EBU's decision "Disproportionate and very drastic":
The Netherlands will still give points in the Grand Final
Although Joost Klein will not participate in tonight's Grand Final, the Dutch jury will still give points to other countries.
The jury results, received after Dress Rehearsal 2 on Friday 10 May have been recalculated so that the Netherlands will not receive any points. This is why all jury members have to rank all songs from 1 to 26.
For example: if the Netherlands were ranked 9th by a national jury in a country the 10th ranked song is now ranked 9th and will receive 2 points and the former 11th ranked song is now 10th and gets 1 point.
No points will be awarded to the Netherlands from the viewing public.
Dutch viewers are still allowed to vote in the Grand Final and the Dutch Jury result is still valid.
The Netherlands will not appear on the scoreboard.
Running Order: No song #5
After the disqualification of the Netherland's Joost Klein, the number of competing countries in the Grand Final has now been reduced from 26 to 25.
All contestants keep their number in the official Running Order. There will be NO song in position number 5.
The EBU will inform all telecommunications partners that the Netherlands is no longer participating, and will endeavor to block the lines for song 5. The EBU asks that no one attempts to vote for song 5. Should anyone try to vote for song 5 their votes will not count but there is a possibility that they may be charged.
The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
The Netherlands has historically been one of the 10 most successful Eurovision countries.
They have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since their debut in 1956, with five victories:
- 1957: Corry Brokken – Net Als Toen
- 1959: Teddy Scholten – Een Beetje
- 1969: Lenny Kuhr – De Troubadour
- 1975: Teach-In – Ding-A-Dong
- 2019: Duncan Laurence – Arcade
Since 1975, the best result for the Netherlands was in 2019, when Duncan Laurence finished first with the song "Arcade." They have come in last in the contest 5 times: 1958, 1962, 1963, 1968 and 2011. Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, they have qualified for the Grand Final 9 out of 19 times.
