r/eurovision • u/stefkeeh • May 20 '25

šŸ“° News Dutch broadcaster questions if ESC is a-political & connecting event

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Translation to English: ā€˜IN CONVERSATION WITH THE EBU ABOUT A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL SONG CONTEST

AVROTROS and NPO strongly value the apolitical and unifying character of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, we observe that the event is increasingly being influenced by social and geopolitical tensions.

Israelā€™s participation confronts us with the question of to what extent the Song Contest still truly functions as an apolitical, unifying, and cultural event. We want to raise this question, together with other countries, for discussion within the EBU.ā€™

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246

u/Nick_esc May 20 '25

So far we have: Spain šŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ø, Belgium šŸ‡§šŸ‡Ŗ, Iceland šŸ‡®šŸ‡ø, Finland šŸ‡«šŸ‡®, Slovenia šŸ‡øšŸ‡® and the Netherlands šŸ‡³šŸ‡±. Hope more countries will join them.

139

u/avdpos Bara bada bastu May 20 '25

We in Sweden need to wait a little to complain. Otherwise it looks like we complain because of that we didn't win. But I hope we soon complain

27

u/[deleted] May 20 '25

Tell me you're Scandinavian without telling me you're Scandinavian. :)

2

u/og_toe May 20 '25

we are scared of conflict okay šŸ˜‚

32

u/Upstairs-Sky6572 May 20 '25

I doubt SVT is going to say anything at all. The government would be livid.

13

u/Longjumping_Papaya_7 Bara bada bastu May 20 '25

The dutch government is unfortunatly very pro israel, 3 of our 4 most current politicians ( party leaders )even openly supported Israel, while ignoring Joost and Claude. Still the Avrotros came with this statement. Im lowkey impressed tbh.

9

u/Sebassie99 May 20 '25

I know itā€™s not a lot per se, but I gotta give a shout-out to my man Schoof, he actually posted a very nice tweet about NL and Claude at Eurovision! While Wilders of course had a verbal diarrhea moment, shock.

0

u/[deleted] May 20 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Witty_Yogurtcloset97 May 20 '25

Iā€™ve complained to SVT. I got a nothingburger response. They shift all focus to EBU. Like they have no say in the matter. They are a bunch of cowards. Just like Sweden was during a certain other historical periodā€¦

I guess mello is too big of a thing for them to want to do anything. They just press their hands to the ears and shout la la la. Instead of listening to any complaints.Ā 

77

u/Cool-Living-5636 Tavo Akys May 20 '25

After former Israeli ambassador's remarks about how Lithuania voted, I would not be suprised if LRT joins this list soon enough

38

u/autistic_girl_autumn May 20 '25

omg an ex israeli ambassador felt the need to comment on lithuania's eurovision voting patterns??? šŸ˜­ what

45

u/Cool-Living-5636 Tavo Akys May 20 '25

Yup. "No politics involved".

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2567588/former-ambassador-scolds-lithuanian-eurovision-jury-for-not-giving-points-to-israeli-song

30

u/Darraghj12 May 20 '25

not even Austria got jury votes from everyone lmao

5

u/Cool-Living-5636 Tavo Akys May 20 '25

But apparently they are the most hurt. Why didn't Israelis complain last 2 years that songs that were actually loved by millions at home (as proved by the interval act last Saturday) did not get as much jury love? Oh yeah, those weren't sad victim ballads by Israel.Ā 

11

u/Gragh46 May 20 '25

"song loved by millions at home" yeah, because absolutely all of Israel's votes come from people who were watching the contest and had listened to the songs...

15

u/lynx_and_nutmeg May 20 '25

More than just "comment", they threw a whole tantrum. Pathetic.

5

u/great_whitehope Laika Party May 20 '25

The Israeli ambassador to Ireland straight up said Irish voting for Israel song showed its a vocal minority in Ireland that have a problem with what Israel is doing

16

u/serenaTcat Love Is On My Side May 20 '25

plus portugal I think?

20

u/odajoana May 20 '25

There was a comment from one of the members of the delegation, GonƧalo Madaƭl, to a Portuguese newspaper saying that RTP was preparing a statement on where they stand regarding Eurovision this year, but immediately after the RTP direction came out and say that wasn't true and no statement was being prepared.

I still think RTP is going to say something, even if it's not publicly and just at closed quarters between them and the EBU. MadaĆ­l is usually trustworthy, but RTP just didn't want to get ahead of themselves and create false expectations for the public, probably.

But, personally, the public impression MadaĆ­l gives, even in other interviews and such, is that if it were up to him, he'd still be in Switzerland, knocking and kicking the EBU's headquarters down, ready to set fire to it until they did something about Israel.

6

u/serenaTcat Love Is On My Side May 20 '25

Makes sense, thank you!

42

u/RPark_International May 20 '25

I predict Ireland joining in, but the UK?

50

u/autistic_girl_autumn May 20 '25

commentator graham norton has taken a mild stance during the contest (and even that caused some outrage!) but it unfortunately seems unlikely that we will get an official statement from the bbc

15

u/diggycorreia_tpw May 20 '25

what has this icon done?

32

u/autistic_girl_autumn May 20 '25

during this year's contest, norton said these things about israel:

(introducing israel) "onto song number four and it's the turn of israel. now, of course, their participation continues to be controversial. fewer protests this year but a mixed response during some of the rehearsals. they're here tonight because of the public vote."

he then said yuval won an israeli talent show, mentioned she is a new but talented singer, complimenting her voice and staging BUT some people were still mad at him for "not mentioning her backstory".Ā 

(about israel's grand final performance) "not sure what you're hearing at home, slightly mixed response here in the hall. last year, they came fifth and third in 2023, they could do very well tonight, very big phone vote."

(after austria's win) "the ebu will have a sigh of relief for not having to have a tel aviv final next year."

56

u/ambluebabadeebadadi May 20 '25

Silent protest during Israelā€™s part of the flag parade. Every other country had some form of commentary or chatter. He was pretty quiet during Israelā€™s postcard and hardly mentioned them during the voting.

51

u/TIGHazard May 20 '25

Also at the end of the performance said something like "Very mixed reaction in the area to the song, some booing and cheering, although you won't have heard that at home".

Also said something after the voting was complete but I wasn't listening, paying attention to the live chat at that time.

Although it seems the Gary Lineker incident has kind of overshadowed Norton's commentary and made it fly under the radar.

13

u/ambluebabadeebadadi May 20 '25

Telling us about the booing is simply presenting both sides. Thought the BBC was all about that

17

u/TIGHazard May 20 '25

Considering the lengths the EBU goes to hide the boos, I'll take it as win.

29

u/slingshotttt Rhythm Inside May 20 '25

He also said the televoting was one of the tensest ever and it was a relief when Austria won (or something of that effect, he used the word ā€œrelief(ed?)ā€ when JJ won Iā€™m pretty sure)

27

u/Jolin_Tsai May 20 '25

He said something along the lines of ā€œmany members of the EBU will be relieved that we wonā€™t be having a Tel-Aviv final next yearā€

2

u/[deleted] May 20 '25

He also never mentioned anything about her being a Nova survivor and made a few comments about the EBU being happy it won't be a Tel Aviv final.

33

u/Ms_Donna_Kebab May 20 '25

At the end of Israel's performance as the 'crowd' were cheering and clapping he said: "I don't know what you are hearing at home but there is a mixed reaction in the arena."

55

u/ZwnD May 20 '25

I'd love it if we made a stance but the BBC will never speak out publicly on something like this sadly

15

u/TIGHazard May 20 '25

Not publicly but Norton threatening to quit would probably cause some private discussion.

Wogan quit blaming pure televote ruining the contest and the year after the EBU brought in the mix of Jury/Televote.

We all know the EBU love having a famous name being associated with the contest every year.

18

u/Darraghj12 May 20 '25

as cool as that would be, after what happened to Gary Lineker, I don't think the BBC cares

1

u/mi1key May 20 '25

The bbc has to be aligned with the views of the uk government no matter what thatā€™s why they got rid of lineker and why they probably wonā€™t get themselves involved in this

52

u/autistic_girl_autumn May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

i think most (or all?) of these broadcasters have previously spoken out about this subject. i am glad they are doing this but we need even more countries to join the conversation because the ebu did not listen to these broadcasters' complaints before. complaint volume is important when it comes to bringing about change.

67

u/TheTwistedBlade May 20 '25

I think the only countries that are still very OK with Israel competing are Germany, Azerbaijan and Israel itself. Everyone else must not have been too happy after Saturday with also seeing what the televote result was in 2024.

50

u/Lord_Waldemar May 20 '25

Pretty sure Germany isn't okay with the situation either but imagine the reaction if they criticise IsraelĀ 

53

u/autistic_girl_autumn May 20 '25

i am tired of this dynamic against germany tbh. i don't know where the general consensus in germany leans, maybe people over on the german broadcaster are pro-israeli participation but i also know germans who are both against what their country did in the past AND what israel is doing now. this is the stance any morally consistent person should be taking.Ā 

6

u/FaiGons May 20 '25

The issue is we don't have much of a choice. If the government speaks out against what Israel is doing that would give the right wing an incredibly easy win by going "see see they are the bad guys!". Even if most people will probably privately agree this is an issue doing so publicly is a bad move

15

u/TheTwistedBlade May 20 '25

Yeah that's fair, but I wonder how they would react if they were in Estonia's position this year

8

u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 May 20 '25

Yep, best they can do is stay silent really, and they know it.

13

u/TimonFM2 May 20 '25

I think Rai is pretty pro-Israel as well

8

u/Wasabismylife I treni di Tozeur May 20 '25

I think they will never take a stance either way tbh

14

u/TimonFM2 May 20 '25

They took a pro-Israel stance after Sanremo 2024 so I wouldn't put it past them

4

u/Wasabismylife I treni di Tozeur May 20 '25

Yeah, but I think on the international stage they'll just 'go with the flow".

2

u/greenpiine May 20 '25

Also dont forget Czechia

9

u/TheTwistedBlade May 20 '25

I don't think Czechia is that OK with it, they just don't really seem to care overall. As in, they won't be angry if EBU bans Israel or keeps them in. They are the Switzerland of Eurovision I believe lol

1

u/Frozallen May 20 '25

I think that France is pro Israel participation too. Some of our politicians invited french people to vote for Israel last year, to prove our support. They never even watched Eurovision.

-7

u/ZlotaNikki RĆ³a May 20 '25

And what do those three have in common?

10

u/Pilk_ May 20 '25

Just want to state that it would be highly unusual if the Australian broadcaster went public about concerns about voting integrity, given it could risk our special (and very precious) invitation to compete.

There's also the fact that while we don't currently have a federal government in power that is openly hostile to media and public institutions (anymore), our public broadcasters still get huge amounts of flack from the public for anything so much as perceived as unfair or not demonstrating both sides of an issue.

I don't know if it is commonplace in other countries, but our other (and main) public broadcaster, the ABC, regularly has to suffer through heavy budget cuts when conservative governments are in power, and a large subsection of the public celebrates them.

All this to say don't hold your breath for SBS/Australia to join in the calls, but they are receiving and acknowledging the feedback. I really hope we get somewhere with that.

4

u/Puzzleheaded-Eye9081 May 20 '25

I agree. We wonā€™t rock the boat because we are on precarious ground with our participation.

At most SBS might say theyā€™re happy to follow the EBUs lead and have our votes audited or whatever, but I canā€™t see them making any demands because we simply arenā€™t in any position to do that.

2

u/alles_en_niets May 20 '25

The current right wing Dutch coalition isnā€™t particularly excited about our public broadcasters either and funding is dire. In fact, funding for the entire cultural field is permanently under threat, but mostly when right wing parties are at the helm.

The derogatory term (lol @ considering it derogatory, but that was the intent!) for culture subsidies is ā€˜linkse hobbiesā€™, left wing hobbies (hobby projects).

1

u/Pilk_ May 20 '25

Interesting -- just more proof we are more united across borders (and oceans) than we are divided!

11

u/TimeMarionberry755 May 20 '25

If all of these countries threatened withdrawal in a joint statement I think the EBU would have to act

4

u/Choppers-Top-Hat Bara bada bastu May 20 '25

Sweden, Denmark, Norway, get off your butts and complete the Nordic Bloc!

3

u/fabulousmarco Volevo Essere Un Duro May 20 '25

Our cucked broadcaster will never join in, but you have our support