Eurovision chaos: Ireland a no-show for dress rehearsal as French act sends anti-war message [VIDEO]

Just hours before the highly anticipated grand final, the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is in a state of flux, with Ireland reportedly absent from the dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon in Malmö, Sweden.
Ireland, along with Greece and Switzerland, did not appear during the parade at the start of the Family Rehearsal, which allows younger viewers to attend.
Bambie Thug, representing Ireland this year, was a no-show on stage, even for the presentation of their song.
Bambie Thug cited a situation requiring “urgent attention” from the organisers as the reason for their absence, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has acknowledged the seriousness of the matter, currently discussing the necessary actions.
A spokesperson for the EBU stated to skynews.com, “We are looking into the matter.”
As Eurovision fans eagerly await the grand final, this unexpected turn of events has added to the suspense, with Bambie Thug’s absence and the official exclusion of Joost Klein from the Netherlands disrupting the usual proceedings.
Greece and Switzerland were also absent from the initial parade but later appeared and performed their songs as planned.

🇮🇱 Erevtov reports that the representatives of Ireland, Greece and Switzerland complained about the Israeli delegation for filming without their permissionThe designer of Eden Golan’s Eurovision look, Itai Bezalali, tried to take a photo of Greek Marina Satti backstage, who… pic.twitter.com/xUqPklBas1— Eurovision Insider (@escinsiders) May 11, 2024

France stops performance midway to send peace message
Meanwhile, according to Sky News, French act Slimane stopped his performance mid-way through and said repeatedly: “United by music yes, but for love, for peace”.
He was referring to the competition’s official slogan: “United By Music.”
His chant appeared to be met with a loud round of applause in the auditorium.

Slimane just made a speech DURING his performance #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/oKgL08pM0s— Daniel (@danieladomako) May 11, 2024

Thrust into political conflict
Billed as a feel-good celebration of European diversity, this year’s contest has been thrust into the political spotlight with protesters – online and on the streets of Malmo – calling for Israel to be excluded from the competition.
Eurovision organisers have resisted such calls, but demanded that Israel tweak the lyrics of its original entry to remove what they said were references to Palestinian group Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked its war on Gaza.
Some booing was heard from the crowd before, during and after the country’s performance in the semi-finals on Thursday, but there was also applause and Israeli flags being waved, according to a Reuters journalist in the auditorium.
In central Malmo, more than 10,000 pro-Palestinian campaigners, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, staged a non-violent protest ahead of the semi-final, waiving Palestinian flags and shouting “boycott Israel”.
A smaller group of pro-Israeli supporters, including members of Malmo’s Jewish community, also staged a peaceful demonstration in the city, defending Golan and her right to take part in the contest.
More demonstrations are planned for Saturday and again expected to draw thousands of protesters. There will also be an alternative music festival in the city that has billed itself as the “genocide-free song contest”.
Protesters have complained of double standards as the EBU banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
(With information from Sky News and Reuters)
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Controversy. Eurovision Song Contest, Ireland, absence