WomanEL reports that Swedish singer and Eurovision 2011 participant Eric Saade made a political gesture in support of Palestine and against Israel's participation in the song contest.
The performer opened the Eurovision 2024 stage in the Swedish city Malmo. He came out with an arafat on his hand, but this was forbidden. According to the rules of the music show, flags or symbols of countries not participating in the competition cannot be used. In addition, the conflict between Hamas and Israel continues, so such actions by the artist are considered a political gesture.
Eurovision Song Contest – live program. All artists are familiar with the rules of the competition. We are sorry that Eric Saade decided to ignore the non-political nature of the incident,
the organizers commented, writes SVT.
Saade shared an Instagram story in which he was indignant and stated that this Arafatka was an old gift from his father and he didn’t put any subtext into it.
I received Arafatka from my father as a little boy so that he would never forget where he came from. I didn’t know then that someday it would be called a “political gesture.” In my opinion, this is just racism. I just wanted to be inclusive and wear something authentic to me, but the EBU seems to consider my ethnicity controversial.
By the way, find out who made it to the Eurovision 2024 final, here are the results of the first semi-final.
