Iceland has joined Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands in saying it will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.
All five countries have withdrawn after Israel’s participation in the competition was officially confirmed last week.
“The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV) has decided not to participate in the Eurovision song contest in Vienna, Austria, next year,” a statement said after an RÚV board meeting on Wednesday.
“Participation of Israeli national broadcaster, KAN, in the contest has created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public.”
I’m not super familiar with Eurovision but is there a world where enough countries boycott that someone actually takes action or am I being naive?
Germany and France will stick with Israel in this. One of Macrons ministers was bragging about how he helped keep Israel in it. I don’t have the link but I saw the article sometime in the 48 hours.
Good job keeping politics out of it. They just want to ignore genocide. Hope Israel wins and it falls apart completely
Forget about politics.
The Eurovision is great for showing that humans can actually do something together across borders and dispite of politics. We should invite everyone regardless of politics.
But when one participants is doing a fucking genocide, I think it’s perfectly fair for the rest not wanting to do anything with them, let alone doing a sing along.
A genocide is way way beyond politics. It’s a crime against humanity.
Also “forget politics” doesn’t work because they are being protested for getting involved in politics.
Eurovision organizers are actively trying to support Israel with everything from propoganda speeches to having security snatch Palestine flags from live audience.
Hmm so as long as they’re in it the show goes on right?
Off the top of my head, 20 countries make it to the final. The Big Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) are all guaranteed a spot, the remaining 15 spots are decided by semi finals.
So in theory, if enough countries boycotted that there were fewer than 20 countries left for the final, they might start to panic. But I suspect the show would just go on.
Damn that’s a bummer, thanks for the info tho.