After Lys Assia and Celine Dion, the crystal microphone returns to Switzerland: Nemo, a non-binary artist, with his song on gender awareness, The Code, wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Second goes to favorite Croatia with Baby Lasagna and third Ukraine with the duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil. Then France, Israel, Ireland.
Angelina Mango, fourth for the juries with 164 points, with another 104 from televoting, placed seventh in the general ranking with La noia .
Twenty-five countries competed in the competition, after a few hours before the final it was decided to exclude the Dutch artist Joost Klein , due to a complaint lodged by a woman from the production team.
An edition which, perhaps more than ever, also had political implications, due to the difficult international situation. The conflict in the Middle East has had an impact both inside and outside the Malmo Arena. Eden Golan, the artist representing Israel, was heavily booed by the audience in the room, as already happened in the semi-final, as well as the jury at the time of voting , while outside the arena pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including Greta Thunberg with a keffiyeh around her neck , attempted to approach with an unauthorized procession. They were stopped and removed by the police, who then created a security cordon 200 meters from the entrances of the building to prevent the protesters from approaching again and to guarantee the exit at the end of the evening. In the end Golan ranked fifth, driven by televoting (323 points collected).
On stage there was no shortage of artists who called for peace, like Iolanda, competing for Portugal, convinced that "peace will prevail" or like the French competitor Slimane who shouted "united by music (the Eurovision slogan, ed. ), from love and peace." As a sign of protest, Alessandra Mele for Norway also withdrew from the role of spokesperson of the respective juries, justifying her decision with a clear "there is a genocide underway", and Kaarija for Finland.
The conflict in Ukraine also found space , with the duo formed by rapper Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil representing Kiev, who called for «unity for the world. Peace and freedom for Ukraine."
(Unioneonline/D)