The organizers of the Eurovision 2024 International Song Contest have stopped voting for countries not participating in it.
The decision was made due to a scandal with a participant from the Netherlands, performer Joost Klein, who is allegedly accused of violence against a woman from a television production. This is evidenced by the official Eurovision 2024 voting page. The message says:
“The opening of the Rest of the World vote has been delayed pending the completion of the ongoing investigation into the Dutch participant. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
Rumor has it that the musician got into a fight with the cameraman, and others assume that Yost came into conflict with the representative of Israel. However, while the European Public Broadcaster (EBU) investigates the matter, voting in the Rest of the World category, which was due to open 24 hours before the show's finale, is unavailable. Representative of Ukraine singer Jerry HeilO says:
“They suspended the work of the resource because they cannot understand what is happening there with the Netherlands. They want to first decide whether he is guilty or not, to disqualify him or not.”
The decision caused outrage from viewers from countries that could already cast votes for the favorites at Eurovision 2024 on the official website of the competition. There is no word yet on when voting will begin for the Rest of the World category.
The Netherlands' Eurovision 2024 entrant has been temporarily suspended from rehearsals while no further details of the investigation are released. The issue of his participation in the final of the song competition is currently being decided. The Eurovision final will take place on May 11 at 22:00 Kyiv time.
It turned out that the singer got into a fight with the photographer. This was reported by the Swedish national broadcaster SVT. The broadcaster did not identify the source, but said “there was a physical confrontation between the singer and the photographer.” Jost Klein, 26, wanted to make a statement but was not allowed to do so. A Eurovision spokesperson said the investigation into the incident involving the Dutch artist is still ongoing.
It is still unknown whether Klein will compete in today's grand final. The Dutch competitor attended the flag parade at the beginning of the rehearsal and walked around the stage in stage costume, but did not appear on stage after half an hour. At the same time, insiders report that the organizers of the competition have already removed the flag of the Netherlands. This means that the contestant has been disqualified. But there is no official confirmation of this yet.
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