Eurovision responds to accusations it encourages voting ‘manipulation' after Israel performance
Eurovision director Martin Green has shared a statement with fans and participating countries of the competition following calls for an audit into its voting system, in response to Israel's near-win this year.
Controversy over the country's participation has been rife for the past two years amid its war on Gaza, while its contestants have been the subject of widespread protests.
Israel's 2025 delegate Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the 7 October attacks by Hamas, came in second place in the grand final last week, while the competition was won by Austra's singer JJ. Raphael scored a total of 357 points from combined votes of the professional jury and the public.
In the wake of the competition, several public broadcasters for countries including Belgium, Spain and Ireland have requested a breakdown of the voting system from Eurovision organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its voting partner Once.
In a statement shared to its website on Friday (23 May), the EBU said it had been listening and engaging 'closely' with the conversations among member countries, fans and the media following the 2025 contest.
'I want to again congratulate the winner JJ and the team from ORF,' Green said. 'His performance and song rightly, clearly and validly won the Contest and we want to make sure any ancillary conversations do not overshadow this epic achievement.'
Addressing questions surrounding the Eurovision voting system, Green said that several 'specially designed' systems were in place to monitor and prevent fraud, while more than 60 individuals stationed in Cologne, Vienna and Amsterdam were employed to monitor the voting process in each country.
'All results are verified through an eight-eye principle by the CEO and senior employees of Once, who collectively have over 40 years of voting experience,' he said.
He continued to break down the measures that the EBU and Once go to in order to ensure that 'our rules and systems remain fail safe', while acknowledging that audience voting often showed evidence of being influenced by current affairs, geographic affiliations or the back stories of certain contestants.
'Historically the ESC has been as open to this as other singing and music competitions and reality television,' Green said.
He added that there was 'no current evidence' to suggest that allowing 20 votes per person – 'designed to ensure that audiences of all ages can vote for more than one of their favourite songs' – disproportionately affected the final result.
However, 'the question has been asked and so we will look into it', he said.
Katia Segers, a Flemish MP, argued in a statement this week that 'a system in which everyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation'.
'Whether this manipulation occurred in our country and all other participating and non-participating countries must be investigated,' she said.
Green concluded his statement by once again congratulating JJ and Austrian broadcaster ORF for winning the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
Next year's competition will take place in the winning country, Austria.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Musical roots: Austria's JJ opens up on Eurovision 2025 win, dream collaborators and what comes next
What do you get when you combine the soaring soprano stylings of Maria Callas, the drama of '90s divas like Celine and Whitney, and the bass-heavy, brat-pop chaos of Charli XCX? You get a winning Eurovision song. JJ, Austria's newly crowned champion of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, brought all of that and more with his electrifying song "Wasted Love". Euronews Culture caught up with the rising star to unpack the whirlwind of the final - from early morning rehearsals to the surreal moment his name was announced as the winner. The 24-year-old singer also reflects on his musical upbringing between karaoke nights and classical symphonies, and shares what's next for his music career now that the trophy is his. Related Austria's Eurovision winner JJ calls for Israel to be banned from contest Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calls for Israel to be excluded from Eurovision over Gaza war Euronews Culture: So, JJ, first of all, how are you? How have things been? JJ: Yeah good. Very busy. I've been traveling around a lot, but I'm enjoying every moment. It's so fun. Please walk us through the day of your Eurovision win, from waking up to taking home the trophy. So I woke up, I think, around 7:30 because we had to leave at 8 to head to the arena. Once we got there, we did a bit of press, then hair and makeup, and had a rehearsal in one of the vocal warm-up rooms. We went through the song once or twice - kind of like a performance run-through, including how I would move on stage. Then we had the family show, which I think started at 1 PM. That was basically the dress rehearsal for the evening show. It was fun, and the crowd was already wild. They were so loud - it was just an insane feeling. We also rehearsed the flag parade, and then I got to perform. While I was sitting there, I just thought, 'Okay, you just have to perform now. Tonight, soak in the moment, because this is the last time you're going to be on that stage." And yeah, it was so fun. I could really feel the energy of the crowd. After I came off stage, we did a bit more press - lots of interviews and TikToks and things like that. Then I took a one-hour nap because I needed some rest. Then it was the same thing again: waking up, having what I'd call a late lunch or early dinner, vocal warm-up, and then the show started. It became a routine by then - my semi-final was on Thursday, so I had the same schedule from Thursday to Saturday. During the final I thought I felt really present, but looking back now, it all feels like a blur because everything happened so fast - I didn't even have time to process it. When I finally had a bit of downtime before my nap, that's when I could actually reflect on what just happened. But overall, it was such a fun experience. And the more I think back, the more memories come up. I'll be like, 'Oh yeah, that happened too.' How did it feel when your name was announced as the winner? That was just crazy. We'd been there all day, and the three-hour show felt so long. I was really glad I performed early because then I could just watch my friends and cheer them on. But the waiting part felt endless. When they finally announced '178,' my team and I were freaking out. There's a video on social media where you can see them flinging me around like I was a fidget toy before pushing me toward the stage. It was all such a blur - so much happened at once. I was full of adrenaline and emotion - I felt every emotion you could think of. And yeah, I was just constantly sobbing. What did you do the night after winning? I performed again, then had to stay on stage for more interviews and official portraits. After that, we went to the press conference at the media center in Basel. I got back to the hotel at 3:30 AM, where I saw my sister and all the other delegations. We had a huge party in the hotel lobby until about 6 AM. So yeah, it was a long night! Where is the trophy going to go? Good question - I have no idea yet. So far, it's just been in my room. But I think we have a glass cabinet in the living room where we keep my grandmother's trophies. I think we'll just make space and put it next to hers. It's really heavy, and I don't have a suitcase for it, so I have to be careful. I don't want a NEMO experience - you know, they had a rough time with theirs breaking. Tell us a bit about your musical background. Can you remember when you first fell in love with music? That was in Dubai, where I grew up. We had karaoke parties every weekend at home - my family would invite friends and relatives. The first karaoke song I learned was 'Because of You' by Kelly Clarkson. Big song... Yeah, crazy, right? For a six-year-old to try and learn that! But it was fun. That was the first time I consciously learned a song. Then the next morning, my dad showed my siblings and me Beethoven - his symphonies - as well as Bach and Mozart. That's when my love for classical music began to grow too. So I basically grew up between both musical worlds, and my love for it just kept expanding. Any other influences that inspire you most? Yeah - Mariah Carey was a big influence. But really, the '90s divas - Celine, Whitney - they were a huge part of my life. My older sister and my mom loved listening to them, so I got a lot of inspiration through them. And I also listened to the radio a lot. I loved Ariana Grande too. So I'd say I'm a mix. And now, especially with the electronic side, my love for Charli XCX has grown even more -especially with her brat album. How did the operatic style come in? Did you learn that formally at school, or…? After going through puberty, I realised that I still had a high singing voice, and I thought it would be a cool party trick to imitate a soprano - like, 'Let's just sing high notes!' So. I started teaching myself by listening to audio recordings of Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballé on YouTube. Since I love imitating voices and sounds, I tried to recreate how they projected their voices. That's how I started learning to sing classically. Later, I got into university and began studying professional vocal technique. So your winning-song "Wasted Love" - it obviously starts as an operatic ballad and then takes off into techno banger. When you were writing the song, how did that idea come about? Did you always know you wanted to end it like that? So it was the three of us in the studio - Tayah, the songwriter; Thomas, the producer; and I. And we'd never worked together before, so this was our first time. They didn't have any experience with classical music, and it was also my first time in a recording studio. So we just let our creative minds flow. We knew we wanted to switch things up - we wanted something that would, you know, gag the people. Then our producer, Thomas, was like, 'What about techno?' And Tay and I were like, 'Okay, we'll see.' We took a quick bathroom break, and while we were gone, he'd already added some EDM/techno elements. When we came back, he was like, 'Guys, I did something.' And then he played it for us - and we were like, "Wow. This slaps." And from that day on, we just kept it. How has life been since winning? Yeah, it's been very fun - pretty busy, because I've been traveling a lot. But I love being in different places, meeting new people - especially with my amazing team. I honestly can't complain. I have the best people behind me, so I'm really happy about that. I do get recognised a lot more. And sometimes, you know, when we're in a rush, I want to take a picture with people, but then I have to start running again. So it's a bit stressful in that sense - but it's fun. It's nice being recognised. So what's next for you? What have you got going on - tour, album? Yeah! So after the whole European press and promotion tour, I'm heading right back into the studio once I get home to make new music - because that's what everyone is very excited for. I'm so looking forward to it. I love being in the studio and experimenting a bit. We've got enough time, and we're gonna let Wasted Love have its well-deserved moment. And while that's still riding its wave, I'll be back in the studio working on what's next. And where do you see your sound going? I'll definitely keep my operatic sound - that's my USP, that's what people know me for. I want to hold on to my musical we'll see how commercial we can go - or what other experimental switch-ups might fit with that operatic sound. But I'm definitely keeping the high notes. If you could team up with anyone - your dream collab - who's top of your list? Obviously, Ariana Grande. But I'd also love to work with Charli XCX. That would be insane.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
Some Bad News About Outer Banks' Season 5 Release Date
Outer Banks Netflix has proudly declared that the fifth and final season of Outer Banks has begun production, with a new set photo of the group in costume minus (spoilers) JJ, who was killed off in season 4, barring some sort of miraculous resurrection. So, good news, right? Well, not if you were hoping this meant that Outer Banks season 5 would arrive any time soon. While it's great that production is starting now, this is a wild nine months after airing of season 4, and with how long it takes to actually film and produce a show like this, that's bad news for its overall release date timeline. Outer Banks season 4 started production in June 2023 and was released in October 2024. That's a gap of 15 months for filming and post-production, lengthy even in this current streaming era. So, if we're talking 15 months from July 2025, if we're rounding up, that's a season 5 debut in October 2026, a full two years after season 4. This would be longer than any gap between seasons the show has had so far. It's not clear whether or not the final season will be broken up into two halves of five episodes as we saw with season 4. But it's likely, given Netflix's addiction to doing this. It's just yet another example of how exhausting these gaps between seasons are in the modern streaming era. There's a new piece from whats-on-netflix that articulates this well in terms of data, showing that the average time between Netflix seasons is 20 months. And that very much hurts these shows: The reasons? More elaborate, expensive shows, but also lengthy post-production, which involves dubbing the show in dozens of different languages given its global reach (this is true for most streaming services, but Netflix especially). It also has to do with actor availability, and in the case of Outer Banks, really all these main actors have been hopping around different projects during these gaps because production takes this long. But doing so can make production take even longer in some cases. Could this change? Now that COVID and strikes are over, it's possible, but we've only seen year-long breaks between a handful of major streaming shows, with only a few points of good news like yearly installments of 15-episode The Pitt, a unicorn. Outer Banks? Not a unicorn. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
In US court, due process rulings have been word for word
In orders asserting their Advertisement They pointed to language in a landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the rights of undocumented children to a free public education, which reads: 'even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful, have long been recognized as 'persons' guaranteed due process of law by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment.' US District Judge Indira Talwani, in an order issued April 28, was the first to stress the constitutional rights of immigrants, when she prevented the government from transferring an immigrant to another jurisdiction. The next day, Judge Leo T. Sorokin wrote a nearly identical order, then a dozen other judges adopted that language in orders barring the out-of-state transfer of immigrants who filed habeas petitions. The rulings have provided critical relief for immigrants in Massachusetts at a time when many are immediately being shipped to detention facilities hundreds of miles away or deported without a hearing, according to advocates. Advertisement 'It's been heartening to see,' said attorney Benjamin Tymann, who represents several immigrants who filed habeas petitions. 'These are completely reasonable orders for judges to put in place because all they are saying is, 'OK, let's hit pause' ... and make the government make some showing on the merits of their arrest.'' Immigration lawyers have accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of moving immigrants across the country to disrupt or delay efforts to challenge their arrests and removal from the United States, and to place them under the jurisdiction of more conservative federal courts. In one case, US District Judge Denise Casper temporarily barred the government from transferring 25-year-old Luis Fernando Olmos Ramirez while she considered his claim that ICE violated his rights when its agents arrested him in Lynn on May 24. Tymann argued there was 'no lawful basis' to arrest Ramirez, who was granted special immigrant juvenile status after coming to the United States from his native El Salvador as an unaccompanied minor in 2015 and has since lived with his father in Lynn. He has no criminal record and has an application pending for a Green card, according to Tymann. In her order, Casper wrote that relocating Ramirez to a facility outside Massachusetts 'will exponentially increase the risks that he will be further deprived of due process and unlawfully removed from the United States to dangerous conditions in El Salvador or elsewhere.' On June 10, Ramirez voluntarily dismissed his petition after an immigration judge released him on bond. But Tymann credits Casper's intervention with paving the way for his release. Advertisement 'Without the no-transfer order, he may have been sent to Texas or somewhere else,' Tymann said. US Attorney Leah Foley, whose office represents the government in habeas petition cases, acknowledged in a statement that the Supreme Court 'has established that all persons in the United States have Constitutional protections, regardless of their immigration status.' She said her office has no authority to tell ICE where to house immigrants in its custody, but immediately forwards the agency the judges' orders barring the out-of-state transfer of immigrants. A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to requests for comment about the habeas petitions and allegations that agents have made unlawful arrests. But the agency has made clear that it has worked to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said during a press conference last month that agents were targeting dangerous and violent criminals, but will arrest anyone they encounter who is in the country illegally. And he argued that their rights are not being violated. 'ICE doesn't just scoop people off the street and remove them,' Lyons said. 'Everyone gets due process and that is what the US attorney's office is for. It's what the immigration courts are for.' Some of the petitions before US District Court judges were filed by people who entered the country without permission, then surrendered themselves to immigration officials and had been allowed to remain free as they pursued lawful status. They allege they were arrested without probable cause or due process while driving to work or dropping their children off at school. Advertisement In some cases, petitioners allege they were leaving the Chelmsford immigration court after judges set hearings for a future date, only to be arrested in the hallways by immigration agents and told they were facing expedited removal from the country. 'What we are seeing in this country is just an assault on the rule of law,' said attorney Todd Pomerleau, whose Boston firm, Rubin Pomerleau, filed habeas petitions on behalf of five immigrants in recent weeks. One of Pomerleau's clients, Andre Damasio Ferreira, 40, was born in Brazil, came to the United States nearly 20 years ago, and lives in Everett with his wife, who is battling cancer. Their two children, 13 and 8, are US citizens. Ferreira, who works for a flooring company, was a passenger in a pickup truck being driven by a co-worker on May 30 when they were stopped by armed ICE agents who demanded to see their passports and questioned them about their immigration status, according to Pomerleau. Ferreira was arrested and is being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility pending removal proceedings. US District Judge William G. Young issued an order June 5 temporarily blocking Ferreira's transfer out of state, using the same language as his colleagues while stressing Ferreira's constitutional rights. Young wrote that although federal district courts don't generally have jurisdiction to review orders of removal by an immigration court, they do have jurisdiction over violations of the Constitution. The government argued in court filings on June 12 that Ferreira's arrest was lawful and urged Young to dismiss his petition. ICE agents stopped Ferreira because he looked like someone else they were targeting, then discovered he was unlawfully present in the country and had previously been removed in 2005, according to the government. The judge has yet to rule on the case. Advertisement In at least two cases, immigrants were mistakenly transferred — one to Louisiana and the other to Mississippi — in violation of judges' orders, according to court filings. The US attorney's office apologized and the petitioners were brought back to the state. Though judges have issued orders halting transfers by the Trump administration as early as January, they specifically began adopting the language reinforcing immigrants' constitutional rights after the arrest of Tufts PhD student She was arrested by masked ICE agents outside her Somerville apartment in March. By the time her lawyers filed last month, a federal judge in Vermont ordered her released, while he considers her claim that the government violated her free speech and due process rights. 'Now we are seeing a lot more detentions that violate due process rights and that's not an issue that immigration judges are usually able to address,' said Shantanu Chatterjee, a Chelsea attorney who has filed habeas petitions on behalf of several immigrants. He said more immigration lawyers are seeking relief for their clients in federal district courts. The flurry of rulings 'sends a message to everyone that Advertisement Shelley Murphy can be reached at
