In the last few hours, just before the expected final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, the disqualification of Joost Klien, the representative of the Netherlands, has been announced.
The decision comes after what the competition organization describes as an “incident” between the Dutch contestant and a female member of the organizing team.
The rumors intensified when the artist did not show up for the rehearsal, as initially scheduled. In addition, the Netherlands was eliminated from the list of participants in the ‘running order’, which shows the order of performance of all countries in the grand final, announced this Thursday.
Everything indicated that, after what happened behind the scenes, the EBU would choose to exclude the Dutch representative from the competition. This morning, the decision was confirmed through an official statement.
After the emblematic draw in which Mery and Mark drew the ball that placed Spain in the first half of the frame, the only thing left to determine was the exact position in which Spain would act. Until today, Nebulossa had been assigned eighth position in the order of performance.
Joost Klein was scheduled to perform fifth, just after Luxembourg’s performance and before Israel’s performance, which has been under scrutiny since long before the festival began.
After Eden Golan’s interpretation, Lithuania’s would originally follow and then Nebulossa’s. However, the EBU’s decision forces Mery and Mark to take the Malmö Arena stage ahead of schedule, in seventh place.
