The Eurovision Song Contest Is Facing Intense Scrunity And Accusations Of Discrimination After It Rebuked

Middle East Eye

'It's just racism': Eurovision roiled in controversy after criticising Palestinian scarf

Competition organisers said Eric Saade's keffiyeh 'compromised the event’s non-political nature' while supporters of the pop star underlined

The Eurovision song contest is facing intense scrunity and accusations of discrimination after it rebuked Swedish-Palestinian pop star Eric Saade for wearing a Palestinian scarf in the opening act of the semi-finals. Saade, whose father is of Palestinian origin, kicked off the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden on Tuesday evening with a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian and Arab male headdress, wrapped around his wrist. [...] In response, the organisers of the contest, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) released a statement saying it "regretted" that Saade wore the scarf. "The Eurovision Song Contest is a live TV show. All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event," it said. [...] Eurovision later posted clips of the performances of the other two opening acts on its social media pages, but did not share Saade’s, prompting social media users to share the performance on their personal pages to show support for the artist.

Waving Palestinian flags, wearing traditional Palestinian garments, or if we're being honest, just being Palestinian, is now officially "too political" for Eurovision.

Literally, all Saade did was wear a keffiyeh around his wrist—while being Palestinian—and that was enough to get a statement from the EBU, and have his opening performance scrubbed from Youtube.

If you're not already boycotting Eurovision this year, then what the fuck is wrong with you?

Below are two statements from Saade. The first one, giving his reason for participating, was posted a few days ago, and the other was in response to the EBU accusing him of 'compromising the non-political nature' of the Genocide Song Contest:

Reminder again to BOYCOTT EUROVISION 🇵🇸

hey reminder to continue boycotting eurovision and instead turn your eyes on gaza where the last media outlet al jazeera has just been shut down so that Israel can launch its attack on the most densely populated area in the world without scrutiny. Dont stop talking about Palestine

just arrived back in the UK from a holiday in Turkey and as I was walking out of arrivals the first shop I saw was a Greggs. absolute poetry.

god i hate drakespeare (kendrick lamar if he was in something rotten)

hey reminder to continue boycotting eurovision and instead turn your eyes on gaza where the last media outlet al jazeera has just been shut down so that Israel can launch its attack on the most densely populated area in the world without scrutiny. Dont stop talking about Palestine