MALMO, Sweden — The Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday's final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel.
He failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and the EBU had said it was investigating an “incident.” Though rumors had been flying that the incident was connected to Israel’s delegation, organizers said that it “did not involve any other performer or delegation member.” Several kilometers from the city center at the Malmo Arena, 25 acts — narrowed from 37 entrants by two semifinal runoffs — are due to perform three-minute songs in front of a live audience of thousands and an estimated 180 million viewers around the world.
This year’s Eurovision entries range from emotional to eccentric. They include the goofy 1990s nostalgia of Finland’s Windows95man, who emerges from a giant onstage egg wearing very little clothing. Bambie Thug summons witchy spirits onstage and has brought a scream coach to Malmo, while Spain’s Nebulossa boldly reclaims a term used as a slur on women in “Zorra.”
Sometimes, though, songs run afoul of the contest’s ban on openly “political” statements. Eurovision organizers told Israel to change the original title of its song, “October Rain” — an apparent reference to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and triggered the war in Gaza.
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