The first semi-final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest took place last night. Three former participants performed to open the show, including Eric Saade, who competed for Sweden in 2011. During his performance on Tuesday evening, he wore a keffiyeh, a scarf that represents Palestinian resistance, around his wrist. The EBU responds and apologizes.
In addition to Eric Saade, Eleni Foureira (Cyprus 2018) and Chanel (Spain 2022) also performed their Eurovision song again. The opening act is now mainly receiving attention because of it statement from the Swedish singer.
Symbol of the Palestinian resistance
Saade, son of a Lebanese-Palestinian father, wore one keffiyeh on his wrist. The keffiyeh is a traditional headgear, mainly worn by men in Arab countries. Over the years it became a symbol of the Palestinian resistance.
That causes resistance at the EBU. Ebba Adielsson, executive producer at the Eurovision Song Contest, responded to the Swedish Aftonbladet: “We think it is sad that he uses his participation in this way.”
EBU response
The EBU also responded: ‘We regret that Eric Saade has chosen to compromise the non-political nature of the competition.’ To date, no images of Eric’s performance can be found on the official channels of the Eurovision Song Contest. There is still no further response.
Racism
The singer himself also responds. ‘My father gave me that scarf as a little boy, so I would never forget where the family came from. Little did I know that it would one day be called a political symbol. In my opinion that is normal racism. I just wanted to be inclusive and wear something authentic, but the EBU seems to find my ethnicity controversial. It says nothing about me, but everything about them. I say this like this year’s slogan: United by Music.’
Utterance Bambie Thug
Irish participant Bambie Thug also expressed their views displeasure about the situation in the Middle East. Bambie Thug’s face was seen during rehearsals ceasefire, or ceasefire, written in the Irish Ogham alphabet. The artist also wrote the text Free Palestine in this language on their leg. This statement had to be removed on behalf of the EBU, the artist later indicated. Their response:
So the EBU ordered Bambie Thug to remove the ‘Ceasefire’ & ‘Free Palestine’ written in Ogham script writing 🤡 pic.twitter.com/HTXrWeo9M7
— Pauluktelk 🍉 (@__paulius) May 7, 2024