Russia was banned from Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but Israel has continued to compete for the past couple of years despite disputes as the fall-out continues
Slovenia’s national broadcaster has hauled the Eurovision Song Contest off the air after the country pulled out of the event over Israel’s participation.
The nation – along with a handful of other countries, including Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain — are boycotting due to officials’ decisions. The annual singing competition is set to kick off in just a few weeks, and has already faced backlash with countries dropping out of the competition in protest of Israel’s continued participation.
Now, RTV Slovenia has confirmed it will not be airing the 70th Eurovision Song Contest at all. It will be held in Vienna, Austria, in May after competitor JJ won last year in Basel, Switzerland with his song Wasted Love. But the huge anniversary has not been without controversy.
Organisers of the song competition decided in December to allow Israel to compete, which prompted the walkout of Slovenia and other countries. Slovenia has been a vocal critic of Israel over its conduct of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The Eurovision contest strives to put pop music before politics but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A worldwide movement of over 1,000 artists including Kneecap and Paloma Faith is demanding a total boycott of Eurovision.
“We will not be broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest,” Ksenija Horvat, RTV Slovenia director told The Associated Press. “We will be airing the film series ‘Voices of Palestine,’ featuring Palestinian documentaries and feature films.”
It was announced in November that the Eurovision Song Contest was changing its rules around promotion and voting after a number of broadcasters raised concerns about Israel’s result at last year’s competition.
Countries have previously been expelled from the competition at the organisers’ discretion with Russia excluded from the competition in 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine then went on to win the competition, with the 2023 competition hosted in runner-up Sam Ryder’s country instead, the UK.
Boy George, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd and was the lead singer of 80s pop band Culture Club, has said he will continue to perform and is representing San Marino in the competition and teaming up with Italian singer, Senhit for the performance.
I have many, many Jewish friends that I’ve had since I was 15 or 16 years old. Are people asking me as a principled human being to turn my back on my Jewish friends? It’s not going to happen, it’s never going to happen.
“From the beginning of my career I wore a Jewish star. Go back and look at pictures of Culture Club. I am so affiliated with Jewish people.”
The Karma Chameleon singer then added: “I am not necessarily affiliated with Israel. I don’t really have an opinion on that. But the job of music is to unite people.”
He then spoke of Ireland’s choice to pull out of the competition: “Ireland is my mother’s home country. I hope they’re not too angry. But if they are, that’s out of my control.”
Boy George is among many entertainment artists who signed the open letter supporting Israel’s continued participation in the competition. Signatories included the likes of; Dame Helen Mirren, Mila Kunis, Amy Schumer Gene Simmons, Sharon Osbourne, and Selma Blair.
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