Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts

Anti-Israel virtue signallers should leave Eurovision alone

Pro-Palestinian supporters in Sweden protest against Israel's inclusion in Eurovision (Credit: Getty images)

The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest – the final of which will be held in Malmö on 11 May – is the latest peculiar target of pompous virtue signallers. The hosts of the UK’s largest Eurovision screening have announced their decision to scrap the event. The reason? Israel, of course.

‘We have collectively decided not to screen the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest this year while Israel remains in the competition,’ the independent Rio cinema in Dalston, east London, said in a statement. Reminder: they are talking here, not about the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the Good Friday Agreement, but The Eurovision Song Contest – which generates such excitement in Britain solely because it’s an excuse to get absolutely potted with your pals while laughing at foreigners.

This pontificating about Eurovision is utterly irrelevant

An open letter inevitably followed the cancellation of the screening, with 450 ‘queer artists’ (whatever that means) writing to this year’s UK’s entrant Olly Alexander: ‘We ask you to heed the call from Palestinians and commit not to perform at Eurovision while it provides cultural cover for an ongoing genocide’.

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