JoostKleinrepresentative of the Netherlands at Eurovision 2024, was considered one of the favorites of the competition. Ultimately, however, he will not perform in the final because the organizers excluded him from the concert.
After the second semi-final, Klein was first suspended by the European Broadcasting Union (he did not take part in any of the rehearsals before Saturday's concert) and then thrown out of the competition. The case was also transferred to the Malmo police.
“Swedish police have investigated a complaint lodged by a member of the production team following an incident following her performance in Thursday evening's semi-final. While the legal process continues, it would be inappropriate for him to continue participating in the Competition” – we read in the EBU statement.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior at our event and make every effort to provide a safe working environment for all Competition staff. In light of this, Joost Klein's behavior towards a team member is considered a violation of the rules of the Competition” – the organizers continue to write. They also emphasized that “no other contractor or member of the delegation was involved in this incident”.
What happened behind the scenes at Eurovision that led to the exclusion? Joost Klein? The first reports were about “physical aggression” star against a woman from the production or photographer of Eurovision 2024. There were also reports that the singer clashed with the delegation Israel and this led to his exclusion.
On May 11, the Malmo police announced that they were investigating the case “criminal threats”. The Dutch broadcaster shed more light on the whole matter AVROTROS. In the first message after the disqualification it was written that there was a penalty for the Dutchman “inappropriate and shocking”. The second statement revealed details of the case.
“The incident (involving Joost) took place on Thursday evening. Contrary to previous arrangements, Joost was filmed immediately after leaving the stage and when entering the green room. At that point, he made it clear multiple times that he didn't want to be filmed. This was not respected. This led to threats he made towards the operator. Joost didn't touch her at all. The incident was reported and the EBU and police launched investigations” – we read.
“Yesterday and today we consulted the matter with the EBU and proposed several solutions. Despite this, it was decided to disqualify our representative. AVROTROS considers the punishment to be very severe and inadequate. We're all for good manners – there's no doubt about that – but we don't think our exclusion from the competition is balanced against the offense. We are disappointed and sad for the millions of fans who have been waiting for this evening. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe should not have ended like this” – we read.