Sweden Drops Case Against Joost Klein, Disqualified Eurovision Entrant
Swedish prosecutors said Monday that they were closing an investigation into Joost Klein, the Netherlands entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, whom organizers threw out of the singing competition hours before the final in May after an altercation with a camerawoman.
Fredrik Jonsson, a Swedish prosecutor, said in a news release that he could not prove that a gesture Klein had made at the camerawoman during the incident “was capable of causing serious fear,” or that Klein had intended it to scare her.
The brief statement added that although Klein had “made a movement” toward the crew member, and touched her camera, “the course of events was fast and was perceived differently by the witnesses of the incident.”
The run-up to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was unusually tense, with months of protests around Israel’s participation. In the days leading up to this year’s contest final, pro-Palestinian groups held several marches through the host city, Malmo, Sweden, and some Eurovision acts used social media to discuss their pro-Palestinian views.
On the day of the final, Klein’s disqualification came as a last-minute curveball.
The day before the final began, Klein, a well-known figure in Dutch pop music whose songs feature silly lyrics and very fast beats, did not appear at a rehearsal to perform his track, “Europapa.” Shortly afterward, the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, said in a statement that it was investigating Klein because of “an incident” involving a member of the show’s production crew. The next day, just hours before the final, the union organizers said in a new statement that Swedish police were also investigating, and it would not have been appropriate for Klein to take part while a legal process was underway.
Klein’s disqualification caused immediate uproar among Eurovision fans on social media. And in the days following the competition, many in the Netherlands rallied around the singer, with radio stations repeatedly airing Klein’s song. Some churches even rang their bells to its tune in protest.
On Monday, AVROTROS, the Dutch broadcaster that had picked Klein to represent the Netherlands, said in a news release that it had long believed Klein’s disqualification was “unnecessary and disproportionate” and the prosecutors’ decision appeared to back its view.
The European Broadcasting Union said in a statement Monday that it stood by its decision to disqualify Klein, despite the Swedish prosecutors’ decision. Jean Philip De Tender, the union’s deputy director general, said that the Swedish investigation was about “whether a criminal act was committed and not whether Mr. Klein behaved inappropriately.”
“We do not tolerate inappropriate behavior, and will always respond to any workplace issues that are reported to us,” De Tender added.
In an email statement, Klein’s management said the “past few months have been incredibly tough” and that they were “relieved this uncertain period has come to an end.”
“Finally, we can say it out loud: There was never any reason for this case.”
Klein has yet to directly comment, but on Monday he posted to Instagram a video of dogs running along streets and through parks set to the song “Who Let the Dogs Out.” Klein posted a similarly cryptic video in May, shortly after Eurovision organizers disqualified him from the contest.
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