Eurovision 2024: Dutch candidate Joost Klein excluded from competition after complaint following an “incident”

Joost Klein was excluded from the competition. dpa – Jens Büttner

The organization of the Eurovision contest announced this Saturday, May 11, the exclusion of Dutch candidate Joost Klein.

Joost Klein, who was suspended as part of an investigation following an incident, has been banned from the Eurovision song contest, the Eurovision Song Contest announced. organization of the singing competition this Saturday, May 11.

The AFP specifies that the incident in question is unrelated to Israel's controversial participation, which had given rise to speculation about the reason for its suspension.

A complaint filed

"Swedish police investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production team following an incident occurred after his performance during Thursday evening's semi-final", explained the EBU in a press release. “While the legal proceedings are ongoing, it would not be appropriate for him to continue to participate in the competition.

A spokesperson for the Swedish police, quoted by SVT, the public channel of the country hosting the competition, declared: "We have a man who is suspected of ;rsquo;having made illegal threats. The offense was allegedly committed at the Malmö Arena on Thursday evening, reports Le Parisien.

The artist's broadcaster reacted on his X account, saying he was shocked by the decision.

We hebben kennis genomen van de diskwalificatie door de EBU. @AVROTROS vindt de diskwalificatie disproportioneel en is geschokt door de beslissing. We betreuren het enorm en komen er later inhoudelijk op terug. #eurovision2024 #europapa #joostklein pic.twitter.com/OBBLl2mU5x

— Songfestival (@songfestival) May 11, 2024

"We have noted the disqualification by the EBU. Avrotros finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision. We deeply regret it and will return to it later", we can read.