really? I thought it was a sexual assault?

omgwtfbarb: from all info I could gather he did not touch her but “gestured” . And in that case I feel disqualifying is a bit overboard . Not saying he shouldn’t be punished but maybe we will get more info

ah, the AP article I read said it was an “incident” and was being investigated by police, but didn’t give specifics

Sweden has muuuuuch broader definitions on what sexual assault is and they are stricter enforcing them.

What sexual assault? One of the Israeli delegation kept on trying to film the guy against his wishes, and he told her to sod off. And then, they whined about it and got him ousted. Don't forget the EBU - or, more aptly, IBU, is sponsored by an Israeli company.

And Ireland's Bambie Thug reported misconduct by the Israeli broadcaster, but the sell-out Noel Curran said it's AWWWWWRIGHT.

slutrix: today I read that he made a “threatening gesture” or “threatening motion” or something like that. I would report that, too. you can’t just go around threatening to assault people.

omgwtfbarb: I agree, you can’t just go around threatening but I personally find disqualifying quite harsh as a response. There definitely should be repercussions though

omgwtfbarb: the Dutch side vehemently denies this. Also, I know better than to trust anything the Israeli side says.

omgwtfbarb: they lied through their teeth about UNRWA, why wouldn't they lie about that?

xxSaltandPepperxx: again, don't take Israel's side of any story at face value. "Audiatur et altera pars" and all that, you know? The EBU sided with Israel, ignoring reports against it by Ireland et al. It's a travesty.

slutrix: this has nothing to do with any side nor with Israel. This is about Joost, the Dutch participant and a woman from the Swedish production team.

xxSaltandPepperxx: OK, let's roll with that. They EBU said the woman from the Swedish production team was a camera operator who kept filming him although he requested not to. When someone says "no", they mean "fuck no". She didn't respect his request. Time and time again. She should have backed off. Period. If there's anyone to admonish, it's not Joost.

slutrix: I fully agree on that, she should have not filmed in the first place and backed off. Again I personally don’t see a disqualification being the appropriate repercussion, that’s all I ever said

xxSaltandPepperxx: indeed. At most, it should have been a warning. Stronger towards the production team (respect the artists' wish to not be filmed when they're not feeling like it), softer on Joost (take it easy, dude).

xxSaltandPepperxx: Yes but the event was held in Sweden and by Swedish regulations, the police had to be involved, so how could they then not punish him after that level of official involvement?

Cyberpink: I never said he should not be punished . There needs to be punishment

No i know, but what could they do after that level of outside involvement? It had to be something like disqualification or there would've been outrage from everyone else

I just don’t understand why he was angry in the first place. This is a fun, campy singing competition, why is he getting so heated about it? I get that it’s great to win but isn’t it meant to be in fun?

I can't swear to it, but I am pretty sure that the artists agree to being filmed and photo'd to whatever extent EBU wants to, there's usually some pretty extensive contracts to sign. Swedish papers are now reporting (though this is still unconfirmed) that the camera operator's camera was broken in the incident.