If you were boycotting or otherwise not watching Eurovision this year, it was a fucking disaster behind the scenes, and a miserable experience for many artists participating.
Eurovision 2024's failures weren't just one event, but a series of poor decisions leading to a very bad atmosphere around the show for artists, reporters, staff and audience members. Artists were left traumatised or crying to reporters after the whole event. Grand Final ticket holders said they wish they hadn't bought them.
Joost's disqualification is outrageous enough just on its own, but another key detail as to why people are extra upset about it is that 'Europapa' is a song he wrote to honor his parents. they both passed away when he was very young, which has been a driving force behind a lot of his works (which i haven't heard, to be very honest, but i've read about it many times in the media). while the song is absolutely Euro-propaganda (as much as the whole ESC is) — referencing many countries by name and the Schengen agreement which allows unrestricted travel between them — it also manages to connect those topics to his own mission to honor his parents on the Eurovision stage.
the whole experience at the ESC for him has therefore been a very emotional and overwhelming one, and him and the Dutch delegation have requested the EBU several times to make sure he doesn't get filmed all the time as he has a lot on his mind and it makes him uncomfortable. this also ties in with the Israeli delegation, who have been relentlessly attacking other artists both through reporters harassing and filming them at the ESC and social media posts/broadcasts putting the other artists and their songs in a negative light. the whole situation revealed to a lot of people that the EBU seems to give Israel preferential treatment, as a result of the victim role they've placed themselves in with the Palestinian genocide.
the ESC is a very political contest. and sure, a contest for countries will always be inherently political, but it goes further than that. the EBU also has members outside the European Union such as Australia, Azerbaijan, or Israel, who get to participate too. and country delegations will usually vote for countries that they have good relations with; if a country ever voted against that, it would make the news. it's essentially a form of soft power, a big politicized event that allows all these countries in and outside the EU to maintain relations with eachother in a more informal way. taking action against Israel therefore is a hot potato that the EBU doesn't want to touch, so they have been been allowed to act this way towards the other participants very uncritically.
A wee bit late on my part, but all this is really worth reading if you care about Eurovision; there were many details I had been aware of, but even more I wasn't. For instance, I didn't know about the Portuguese delegation's clothing and makeup choices, and I'm grateful to them for that.
One detail missing from these accounts is that the primary sponsor of the ESC is Moroccan Oil, an Israeli corporation. They've signed on for 2025 as well, so, unfortunately, I don't think much will change in regards to this shitty situation next year. Wishing all the best for Joost and hoping that no one gets disqualified the way he was in 2025.
And yes, despite the boycotts, I still watched (and voted in) Eurovision this year. Somebody had to keep Israel's song from winning; I'm glad that Croatia triumphed in the audience vote, and not just because "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" is a banger. Nemo was absolutely the right choice for overall winner, though.