Israel’s Eurovision entry Eden Golan has already been met with boos from crowds in Sweden, and during her performance at Thursday’s semi-final, which was broadcast on BBC, fans of the competition “switched off”.
It comes as earlier today, Golan was advised to stay in her hotel room as thousands of pro-Palestine protesters descended on Malmo.
Thursday’s show saw the second of the semi-finals, with 16 new entries performing and hoping to get through to Saturday’s main event.
The UK is among the “Big 5,” along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain who immediately make it to the grand final as they contribute the most financially to the production of the competition every year.
Others must make it through the semi-finals though, and Thursday saw Golan take to the stage with her performance of Hurricane.
The hosting city, Malmo in Sweden, had prepared for demonstrations and thousands of protesters, including activist Greta Thunberg, have been present all day.
Many fans ‘switched off’ during Golan’s performance
BBC
Golan performed on Thursday’s semi-final
BBC
“Thanks for the toilet break. Anyway, onto Norway #Eurovision,” one person shared on X.
“Turning it off during Israel because f*** you @EBU_HQ #Eurovision,” a second fumed.
“F*** Israel !! #Eurovision,” a third penned, while another commented: “#Eurovision #Israel I kinda feel sorry for the singer (and the 10,000s of protesters against the bombing in Israel); a poisoned chalice – hopefully she won’t make the final.”
“The audience have absolutely been blocked out on Israel’s performance. Really want people in the audience to post their videos from inside the stadium because I imagine there was a s*** ton of booing#eurovision,” someone else remarked.
