The organizers of the last contest in Basel, Switzerland, banned artists from displaying the flags of any country other than the one they are representing in the contest, outraging both pro-Palestinian activists who urged artists to wave the Palestinian flag and LGBTQIA2+ activists who lamented that the rainbow flag had been banned while being irrelevant to the controversy. In Basel, Switzerland, the 2025 contest banned the contestants themselves from using flags outside of those representing their countries, but did not ban the public from bringing them, unless they were “flags with racist and/or discriminatory content, including symbols that incite hatred or violence; flags that may be considered offensive or defamatory; and flags with symbols of banned terrorist organizations.” The Palestinian flag was not deemed a symbol of inciting hatred of violence. Eurovision fans in particular lamented that the audience controls damaged the performance of the act considered the frontrunner in the contest before the finals, Finnish-Swedish comedy band KAJ, and their sauna song “Bara Bada Bastu.” KAJ ended up in fourth place in the contest, finishing behind winner Austria and runners-up Israel and Estonia.
Author: Frances Martel
Published at: 2025-12-17 22:12:23
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