🇳🇱 The Netherlands will not participate in the Eurovision 2024 Final

Following an incident on Thursday the 9th of May, The Netherlands will not participate in the Eurovision 2024 final.

Maintaining a Zero Tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior

It is noted that Joost Klein did not participate in the dress rehearsal in the Eurovision 2024 Final, and ended up not performing in the Jury Final.

Upon the reveal of this news, the EBU has mentioned the following statement:

The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s Semi Final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest.

We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.

We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the Contest. In light of this, Joost Klein’s behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of Contest rules.

The Grand Final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will now proceed with 25 participating songs.

Joost had represented The Netherlands at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, and had participated in the second semi final; which he qualified from. Joost had been expected to perform 5th in the final.

Dutch Delegation shocked by EBU’s decision

Participating broadcaster AVROTROS released the following statement, upon the reveal of the news, mentioning their shock and will reveal further information later on.

We have taken note of the disqualification by the EBU. AVROTROS finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision. We deeply regret this and will come back to this later.

Who is Joost?

A Friesland native (which gave name to his 2022 album Fryslân) Joost Klein got his start on YouTube, initially making sketches and mini-documentaries, before releasing his debut EP in 2016. Mainly a hiphop artist, Joost also mixes influences of drum & bass, hardstyle and gabber into his songs.

Joost lost both of his parents during childhood, which is the inspiration for a number of songs including Europapa, as well as others such as Florida 2009 and Papa en Mama. Joost regularly performs at festivals in the Benelux such as Pinkpop and Lowlands, and has to date released 8 studio albums.

His first breakthrough into the European market was with the song “Friesenjung”, a collaboration with German rapper Ski Aggu, which is an adaptation of a song by East Frisian comedian Otto Waalkes, the song reached number 1 in both Austria and Germany.

His song for Eurovision, Europapa, which was written alongside 6 others, is already a commercial success in both the Netherlands and Flanders in Belgium.

The Netherlands at Eurovision

The Netherlands are one of the founding countries of the ESC, having performed the very first song ever on the Eurovision stage back in 1956. While the result of “De Vogels van Holland” is unknown, the Netherlands have clocked 5 wins, with their most recent in 2019. However the Netherlands are also known to have had the longest ever non qualification streak in the semi-final era – they missed out on the final a whopping 8 times between 2005-2012.

The most recent Dutch entry to the Contest was in 2023, when Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper represented the nation with “Burning Daylight” – written by Eurovision winner Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands failed to qualify for the final in Liverpool, placing 13th with a total of 7 points from the televote.

Are you shocked that The Netherlands will not be present in the final? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr, Threads and Bluesky as we gear up for Eurovision 2024!

News Source: EBU

Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU