'Eurovision' contest director speaks out after boycotts due to Israel's participation

Watch 'Eurovision' contest director speaks out after boycotts due to Israel's participation - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00I think it's an important day for Eurovision. It's an emphatic result by the

00:09democratic membership who have said that they want to protect the neutrality of

00:13the competition. Now it was a deep debate, it was a passionate debate, it

00:17recognizes we live in a really complex world but ultimately it recognizes that

00:22it's not governments who participate in Eurovision, it's artists and public

00:27service broadcasters. It's no way a crisis, we've got 35 members or so going to join

00:33us next year. Now I understand the four or five who might not come, that's their

00:38choice, I completely respect that. I very much hope they'll be back with us in

00:422027 and also very much hope that they will still broadcast the show and allow

00:47those fans who want to watch the show to watch it but again that's their choice.

00:51Well the Eurovision is very very successful, it's the biggest music show in

00:55the world and therefore we're lucky that we are financially robust. We're also

01:00going to be joined by three returning countries next year, Bulgaria, Romania and

01:05Moldova so there's a sense that it will even itself out and this, remember this

01:11isn't driven by money, of course we wish the other four or five were with us, we

01:15hope they come back in 2027 but we're gonna now drive towards a real

01:19celebration of 70 years of music bringing people together next year with

01:24those 35 or so participating broadcasters. Well it means that four or five

01:29countries won't have a song and an act, we'll fully make sure that the fans and

01:33the audiences in those countries can watch the show and then for the 35 others

01:38they'll be on stage in Vienna, our Austrian broadcaster is doing an amazing job,

01:42we've got lots of special things lined up for the 70th anniversary which will also

01:47remind us, you know, Eurovision was born from the ashes of the Second World War, it

01:51was designed to bring us together and it will hit bumps in the road and we have a

01:55complicated world but we hope it's a temporary situation and we'll move forward.