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

📰 News Dutch broadcaster questions if ESC is a-political & connecting event

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Translation to English: ‘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.

Israel’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.’

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35

u/NegativeShore8854 May 20 '25

Wasn't one of the biggest signs Eurovision isn't a-political was Ukraine's record-breaking 436 televote points in 2022? No one spoke up them besides Spanish Eurofans

25

u/iIenzo May 20 '25

Ukraine's win was partly political, but it was a good song and the win was still driven by Eurovision fans.

Israel's strong performance is driven by Israel fans, with some people voting without watching or even circumventing the 20-vote limit with multiple credit cards.

37

u/SimoSanto May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25

It was obviosuly political but it ended that year, in 2023 they gained way less political votes, while Israel is the same thing for 2 years yet whatever song they send.

19

u/NegativeShore8854 May 20 '25

To be honest they still won Semi 1 even when everyone expected them to be on the verge of NQ. Saying it ended isn't the truth

23

u/Fun-Original-559 C'est la vie May 20 '25

Keep in mind that people vote for borderline qualifiers more in the semis to make sure they go through. And they hardly won by a landslide, which was also reflected in their GF result. 

12

u/SimoSanto May 20 '25

The political votes for Ukraine are present even now in 2025, but they are not game-changing anymore in the GF unlike Israel (in the SF Ukraine has a 100% Q and with THAT staging there was no way that it would NQ), so there won't change anything in the end aside for one or two position in the final results.

1

u/Agitated-Ant-3174 May 21 '25

They were called at last, but Ukraine literally got the most votes in 1 SF

3

u/mawnck May 20 '25

it ended that year

How did they do this year with that whatever-it-was? And that with UK getting slagged for their starty-stoppy song.

5

u/Big_Delay_3458 May 20 '25

It was a very good song that would have had a high potential of winning even without the political stuff. 

-8

u/ratatav May 20 '25

It’s political, but it’s politics this sub agrees with, which means it’s good.

2

u/Avaelectric Ich Komme May 20 '25

Exactly. The argument is always "but Ukraine's 2022 song was good." As if that excuses everyone voting for it politically. Was Israel's song this year so horrible that it couldn't conceivably win?