The European Commission has expressed anger over a ban on EU flags at the Eurovision Song Contest and demands explanations. #EuropeNews

The European Commission has expressed anger over a ban on EU flags at the Eurovision Song Contest and demands explanations.

The allegations, made by several spectators who attended the Grand Final on Saturday and were told off for carrying the flags, quickly turned viral and prompted a stern rebuke from Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas.

“Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.

“Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”

  • positiveWHAT@lemmy.worldEnglish
    862·
    6 months ago

    There’s seems to be no end to serious failures of the Eurovision leadership. Jury votes, Israel and now EU flagban.

          • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            471·
            6 months ago

            According to AVROTROS, Klein “repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed”, which “led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera”. They said: “Joost did not touch the camera woman.”

            This was backstage btw. Idk if raising your fist as a gesture against a camera, when you told them to fuck off multiple times is deserving of the kind of shit he is getting. But who knows, i wasnt there.

            • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
              21·
              6 months ago

              Not wanting to be filmed backstage at an event seems pretty normal IMO as backstage is where a lot of prep work happens. It probably not safe for untrained personnel and/or might reveal things that people don’t want on camera (like costume malfunctions that are being worked out)

              • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
                222·
                6 months ago

                Also, it was literally seconds after he had finished singing an ode to his dead dad, so a very emotionally raw moment.

                Which is why he had an agreement with everyone that he was not to be filmed at that time. An agreement that the obnoxious camera woman had agreed to prior to figuratively pissing all over it.

                • Plopp@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  29·
                  6 months ago

                  Obnoxious camera woman? You don’t think she had a producer in her ear telling her what to do?

            • Microw@lemm.eeEnglish
              3·
              6 months ago

              Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet claims that he destroyed the camera.

            • Reddfugee42@lemmy.worldEnglish
              417·
              6 months ago

              Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal, even if you don’t follow through. It’s not just a rule, it’s also a law.

              And yes , there are different jurisdictions for everything, but show me a jurisdiction that doesn’t have such a law

              • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
                101·
                6 months ago

                Making people think you’re going to hit them is literally illegal

                That’s just your assumption. What I’ve read is that he tried to physically turn the camera away from his face and the obnoxious camera woman reported that as a threat.

                Either way, banning him from a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at one of the biggest music events in the world is WAY out of proportion, especially as he was just defending himself from having his privacy invaded in a very emotional moment (just after singing an ode to his dead dad)

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          92·
          6 months ago

          The reason given is that “he made a threatening gesture towards a camera woman”

          This is likely just an excuse to ban him because he spoke out against israel committing Genocide delegation not answering a question, as instant disqualification is extremely disproportionate for a gesture.

          It also served as a great distraction from israel being allowed to compete.

          • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            1·
            6 months ago

            That was Eric Saade with the scarf on the arm, but it was my first idea aswell. Or was there a separate incident with Joost Klein that i wasnt able to find?

            • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
              41·
              6 months ago

              I think you are right I might be confused. Joost Klein did speak up during a panel during Eurovision to make the israeli singer answer a question they were trying to dodge

              He also covered himself in the Dutch flag to be unrecognizable when they sat him next to israel

              I didn’t follow Eurovision too closely so I cannot confirm whether Klein spoke up against israel before Eurovision. For now I’ll correct my comment.

              The key point is that israel violated multiple rules themselves and harassed many contestants including the Irish one. So the decision to completely axe Joost for what appears to be a very minor infraction can almost not be explained by anything else that external motivations.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    123·
    6 months ago

    “Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this,” Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.

    “Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans.”

    Not all participants are in the EU. Strictly-speaking, you can maybe argue that the identical flag also applies to most non-EU members as the Flag of Europe, given that pretty much everyone is in the Council of Europe, but it probably still won’t cover Australia.

    That being said, I mean, I don’t really see the problem of someone holding the EU flag if they can hold their national flag. I mean, a flag doesn’t have to apply to everyone.

    Besides, the thing is “Eurovision” already, not “Euroaustraliovision”. If you want the venue to be some sort of generic thing decoupled from Europe, you’ve already done the branding wrong in rather more-significant ways.

    • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.eeEnglish
      162·
      6 months ago

      can you think of any other countries that the EU flag wouldn’t represent who were getting boo’d and are also home to Eurovision’s biggest corporate sponsor?

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        31·
        6 months ago

        I don’t know what you’re referring to, but if it’s the UK, you’ve got the Flag of Europe-also-represents-the-Council-of-Europe case, and the UK is in that.

        I guess Belarus isn’t in the Council of Europe. And Russia is either out or suspended or something. I don’t know what the situation is with them, but apparently they both also got kicked out of Eurovision, so kind of an academic question.

        EDIT: Yeah, Russia is out of the Council of Europe.

          • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
            41·
            6 months ago

            ISRAEL

            Ah, fair enough. And speaking of Moroccan Oil, looking at Wikipedia, Morocco has apparently also competed, and also isn’t in the Council of Europe or European Union:

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest

            Israel’s first win in 1978 proved controversial for Arab states broadcasting the contest which would typically cut to advertisements when Israel performed due to a lack of recognition of the country, and when it became apparent Israel would win many of these broadcasters cut the feed before the end of the voting.[316][317][318] Arab states which are eligible to compete have declined to participate due to Israel’s presence, with Morocco the only Arab state to have entered Eurovision, competing for the first, and as of 2023 the only time, in 1980 when Israel was absent.[319][320]

            • mondoman712@lemmy.mlEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              Moroccanoil is an israeli company. The connection to Morocco is that they co-opted a Moroccan product and sell it under their name. There’s no reason to believe that their sponsorship would influence a potential Moroccan entrant.

            • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              Really the only requirement for Eurovision is to be part of the European Broadcasting Union, which extends out of Europe. Hence the inclusion of countries like Israel, Azerbaijan, and even Australia.

              • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Australia is an associated member, same status as the US, any ITU member can be one.

                They’re special-cased for the contest because they’ve been watching the thing religiously for decades. And I’m deeply disappointed that they never flipped their vote presenter upside-down.

        • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
          22·
          6 months ago

          None of the southern Mediterranean states are in the CoE, the EBU has a larger catchment area than the CoE: E.g. Morocco is a founding member. There’s the UfM, that one could get a flag and flying the flag of the African Union should also be perfectly acceptable.

    • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.socialEnglish
      7·
      6 months ago

      Eurovision: we want to expand into North America and get US broadcasters in on the event so that we have a larger viewer base and make more money.

      Also Eurovision: geoblocks Eurovision in the US so Americans can’t watch, meaning Eurovision has a non-existent viewer base in the US and isn’t financially viable for American broadcasters to invest in.

      Seriously, my biggest complaint about Eurovision, besides all the bullshit that went on this year, is that they’ve made it nearly impossible for Americans to show interest in it; despite the fact they’ve expressed the interest in expanding into the US.