Eurovision has announced new efforts to maintain the contest's apolitical stance following this year's protests against Israeli singer Eden Golan's participation in the competition.
In an interview with the Swiss media outlet Blick, Bakel Walden, chair of the Eurovision 2025 supervisory committee, said preserving the competition's neutrality is crucial. To prevent incidents like those that turned Eurovision 2024 in Malmö into a tense event, he announced that safe spaces away from media would be provided for contestants.
Walden stressed that the organizers believe in the artists' freedom of expression but that if the committee allowed political statements on stage, "the competition would collapse in a few years." He added, "Artists can express themselves and protest outside the venue, but there need to be clear rules on what happens on stage."
"We want Eurovision to be an event where participants pour their heart into their performance. We can't resolve the world’s many conflicts in the competition, but treating each other with fairness, peace, and respect would make a powerful statement," Walden said.
Walden revealed that steps were already being taken to reduce tensions behind the scenes. "The Malmö competition was great, but certain things can't happen again," he remarked.
Israel's Eden Golan faced bullying at Eurovision
In a recent interview, Isaac, Germany's representative in Eurovision 2024, said that he believes Israel's contestant Eden Golan was bullied during the competition. He described the atmosphere in the hall as "filled with hate."
Isaak answers whether he thinks Eden Golan was bullied at Eurovision 2024:“I think so”“hate shouldn’t be a place for the Eurovision Song Contest” pic.twitter.com/IaIaTaBwDC
— allthingsadam.ie (@_allthingsadam_) October 20, 2024
When asked whether he thought Golan had been bullied, Isaac replied, "Yes, I believe so. Do you realize how young she is? Here's a girl who just wants to sing and fulfill her dream. But no matter how talented she is, people only see the country she’s from and hurl insults at her. If I had been in her place, it would have scarred me for life. The Eurovision motto is 'We are united by music,' but some people clearly forgot that."
Isaac Guderian, known by his stage name Isaac, represented Germany at Eurovision 2024 with the song “Always on the Run,” which placed 12th, marking Germany’s best result in years. Israel's entry, "Hurricane," finished in fifth place.