The Joost Klein incident
The Dutch artist Joost Klein didn't appear at the rehearsals on Friday. Swedish police are investigating the Joost Klein incident. Voting has been delayed
Joost Klein incident
"Unlawful threats" – The case passed on to the prosecutor
Joost Klein has been interrogated by the Swedish police. The police shares that Joost Klein is suspected of 'unlawful threats' that took place at the Malmö Arena Thursday night. No announcements have been made about the nature of the threats. That incident is said to have taken place Thursday night. The complaint was filed Friday.
Police say Joost Klein was interrogated late last night. The person who filed the complaint has also been interrogated. The case has now been passed on to the prosecutor. He will determine what will happen to it. The settlement of the case may take weeks.
Dutch broadcasters meeting with the EBU this morning
This morning a meeting will take place between the Dutch broadcasters NOS and AVROTROS and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about Joost Klein's participation.
Frederieke Leeflang, head of NOS, arrived at Joost Klein's hotel in Malmö this morning. The visit had already been planned, but has now taken on a different meaning.
Eurovision voting delayed
The international viewers from countries that do not participate in this year's Eurovision have the opportunity to vote as part of "Rest of the World".
Viewers in those countries have, according to the rules, 24 hours to cast their vote, starting from Friday at 21:00 CEST.
But this morning the message on the voting homepage still says:
"The opening of the Rest of the World vote has been postponed until an ongoing investigation regarding the Dutch participant has been concluded. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
Swedish police involved in investigation
The Swedish police are involved in the investigation into an incident surrounding Joost Klein, according to Swedish broadcaster SVT.
There are no charges at the moment, a police spokesman tells SVT. "But we are on site and are conducting investigative measures to see what happened."
Joost Klein will not perform during Friday's Jury Rehearsal
EBU has released the following:
The investigation into the incident with the Dutch artist in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is still ongoing. Discussions are also taking place between the EBU and AVROTROS, the Dutch participating broadcaster.
While the investigation continues the EBU has decided that Joost Klein will not perform during Dress Rehearsal 2 of the competition which is voted on by juries in the 37 participating countries.
His performance from Semi Final 2 will be used instead.
Joost Klein unfollows Eurovision, deletes stories
Joost Klein has stopped following the official Eurovision account on Instagram. The singer also removed all his stories on Instagram about Thursday night at the Malmö Arena.
EBU Statement
"We are currently investigating an incident that was reported to us involving the Dutch artist. He will not be rehearsing until further notice. We have no further comment at this time and will update in due course."
Thursday night Joost Klein qualified for the Grand Final from Semi-final 2 with the song "Europapa."
But at the afternoon rehearsals on Friday Joost Klein wasn't on stage to rehearse his song.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has issued this statement:
We are currently investigating an incident that was reported to us involving the Dutch artist. He will not be rehearsing until further notice. We have no further comment at this time and will update in due course.EBU
At the beginning of the Dress Rehearsal for the Grand Final, Joost Klein was part of the opening flag parade on the Eurovision stage.
Joost Klein should have rehearsed as song number 5, but without any comment from the production, they went straight from song number 4 (Luxembourg) to song number 6 (Israel).
At the rehearsal's recaps, Joost Klein's song "Europapa" was included as song number 5 with a clip from another rehearsal.
Joost Klein has now removed all his Instagram Stories about Eurovision.
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.
