Switzerland’s Eurovision 2024 champion Nemo has publicly voiced their support for Israel’s exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest.
With just a couple of days before Eurovision 2025, Nemo discussed Israel’s participation in this years contest. Speaking to HuffPost UK, the Eurovision 2024 victor said:
“I personally feel like it doesn’t make sense that Israel is a part of this Eurovision. And of Eurovision in general right now. (…) Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”
Nemo has now joined a number of Eurovision artists calling for Israel’s suspension from the contest amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. In a follow-up statement they added:
“I support the call for Israel’s exclusion from the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel’s actions are fundamentally at odds with the values that Eurovision claims to uphold — peace, unity, and respect for human rights.”
This year, over 70 Eurovision-affiliated artists, including former winners, signed an open letter calling for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to bar Israel from participating.
The EBU responded with a statement reiterating its position:
“The EBU is not immune to global events but, together, with our members, it is our role to ensure the Contest remains – at its heart – a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music. We all aspire to keep the Eurovision Song Contest positive and inclusive and aspire to show the world as it could be, rather than how it necessarily is.”
The EBU also emphasised that Eurovision participation is open to all public broadcasters who meet the criteria, regardless of their government’s actions.
Criticism of new flag restrictions
Nemo also criticised new rules around flag displays, which prevent artists from showing anything other than their national flag on stage. This effectively means artists are no longer to go on stage with a pride flag as has occurred in recent years. On the subject, Nemo says:
“That’s so dumb. (…) You can’t be known for like the queerest thing in the world… and then be like, ‘oh, we don’t allow Pride flags for the artists’.”
Later, they added.
“It doesn’t even feel ill-intended. I don’t know, I’m confused by it. I think that’s the only thing I can say. I don’t think it makes sense at all.
Nemo will perform next week as a guest during the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland. Their latest single, “Casanova”, came out two weeks ago.
Nemo won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 for Switzerland with “The Code”. This was Switzerland’s third victory in the contest’s history, following Lys Assia in 1956 and Céline Dion in 1988. The singer is currently in Basel for the competition, earlier this week he held a meet and greet with fans and performed on the cities streets.
Image source: Daniel Stridh | Source: Huffington Post
Switzerland hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, a contest that they also won. Lys Assia won the first contest with the song “Refrain”. It wasn’t until 1988 that Switzerland would win the contest again. At the contest in Dublin, it was Celine Dion with “Ne partez pas sans moi” who beat the United Kingdom to victory by just 1 point. Switzerland won for a third time in 2024 represented by Nemo with “The Code”.
