This week, all eyes are on the Eurovision Song Contest happening in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city. Over 150 million people worldwide watch this yearly event, which organizers claim is not political. However, this year might be different.
During the dress rehearsal, Israeli singer Edan Golan was booed on stage while performing. Some people in the audience loudly disagreed with Israel being part of the event and chanted ‘Free Palestine!’
Videos shared on social media show the booing and chanting throughout Edan’s performance, almost drowning out her singing. Police at the Malmö Arena stepped in and stopped the people.
An X user shared a video of the disruption, writing, “Israel getting booed at Eurovision. We love to see it.”
Someone else wrote, “I’ve never heard so much booing at Eurovision before, but Israel didn’t face any big problems during the first show with a crowd.”
The EBU expressed “regret” for letting Swedish singer Eric Saade perform at the opening of the contest after he wore a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf around his wrist. So far, organisers have refused to budge to demands that Israel be booted off the competition for its genocide in Gaza.
