Joost Klein bullied Israel's Eden Golan before final?
Klein performed in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest's second Semi-final and was scheduled to enter the Grand Final with the entry "Europapa"
However, it was announced that Klein had stopped all further rehearsals until further notice due to an "incident".
On 11 May 2024, the day of the final, it was announced that Klein had been disqualified from competition over alleged verbal threats he had made to a female production worker at Eurovision.
Golan, born in Israel and raised in Russia, has received death threats ahead of her Eurovision performances.
The broadcaster said Klein didn’t touch the camera or the female camera operator, and called his expulsion “very heavy and disproportionate” punishment.
Klein, a 26-year-old Dutch singer and rapper, had been a favorite of both bookmakers and fans with his song “Europapa.”
The Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS criticized the EBU for kicking Klein out. It said in a statement that it “finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision.”
Some music lovers in Malmo’s Eurovision fan park expressed dismay at the Dutch expulsion.
Sven Sherman from Sweden said that it was a “pity that a song which is absolutely made for Europe is now disqualified".
Eurovision expert Paul Jordan told Reuters it was unprecedented for an artist to be expelled on the eve of the final.