Swiss Nemo wins the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest

The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 has been crowned. On Saturday, the annual musical event concluded with Switzerland’s Nemo winning first prize for his rendition of “The Code.”

Nemo beat Croatian Baby Lasagna, one of the favorites, with his song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” – he came in second place. Ukraine comes in third place, followed by France and Israel.

The build-up to the tense grand finale was marked by some controversy: Just hours before the winner was crowned, Dutchman Joost Klein was ousted after the singer crashed out of the semi-finals on Thursday following his performance of the song “ Europa”. However, he was not present during rehearsals on Friday.

On Saturday, Eurovision producers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that Klein had been disqualified from the competition after a female member of the production team reported to Swedish police that Klein had allegedly made “illegal threats” after the semi-finals at Malmö Arena.

The Eurovision final took place in the Swedish coastal city of Malmö, after the victory of the Swede Loreen in 2023. Before the final, the main contenders in the competition were the Swedes Marcus & Martinus with “Unforgettable”, the Ukrainians Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil with “Teresa”. & Maria », Germany | ISAAK with “Always On The Run”, the Luxembourger TALI with “Fighter” and the Dutch Joost Klein with “Europapa”.

Israeli Eden Golan was also in contention for victory until the final with “Hurricane”. Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has become a tense minefield for both the event’s organizers and participants. In Friisgatan, an area called “Eurovision Street,” thousands of protesters filled the street waving Palestinian flags while demanding a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli government’s military occupation of Gaza.

Earlier this month, musician Olly Alexander – who represented England at this year’s competition – defended his decision not to boycott the event by creating distance between himself, the competition and the conflict in general.

“Obviously, there are a lot of things I wish were different. And it’s way bigger than me and Eurovision, it really is,” he said. The temperature. “Obviously, I wish there wasn’t a war or this senseless humanitarian crisis. I want peace and I found this experience, at times, extremely… I felt really sad and distressed. But I still believe it’s a good thing when people come together to have fun. That’s why I wanted to participate in Eurovision.

Scott Bryan, who reports on Eurovision for British television and radio, recently said rolling stone: “I would definitely say that Eurovision is in a bit of a crisis. Compared to where we were a year ago, it couldn’t be more different. It went from a really strong year at Liverpool, where we felt almost invincible, to a situation where there are very strong calls for a boycott.”

During Tuesday night’s semi-final, Sweden’s 2011 Eurovision winner Eric Saade (who is half-Palestinian) performed at halftime. He wore a Palestinian keffiyeh around his wrist during the performance and had previously criticized the EBU’s decision to ban Palestinian flags from the arena during the contest. Flags of non-competing nations were also banned. “It’s more crucial than ever for me to be on That Stage,” he wrote on Instagram ahead of the performance. “You can take our symbols, but you cannot take away my presence.”