YLE, the Finnish national broadcaster, has released a statement regarding Finland’s Eurovision 2024 participation in Malmo.

In the wake of the latest developments and events in the Middle East the Finish national broadcaster has released the following statement regarding its participation at Eurovision 2024:

Yle complies with the EBU’s decisions on Eurovision Song Contest participants – UMK winner Windows95man to represent Finland

The decision was discussed together with the winner of UMK. Yle and the artist will continue preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Malmö in May.

EBU is responsible for organizing the Eurovision Song Contest and decides which TV companies can participate.

Ville Vilén, Yle’s Director of Creative Content and Media and Editor-in-Chief says:

“Yle has decided to respect the European Broadcasting Union EBU’s judgment on the TV companies participating in the contest. We understand that there are various justified perspectives related to this issue. Yle has informed the EBU about the discussion in Finland and the Finnish representative’s view on the situation. We hope that the situation in the Middle East will resolve as soon as possible.”

Windows95man will represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Teemu Keisteri, the creator of the Windows95man character, and singer Henri Piispanen comments:

“We think that the only correct decision for the EBU would be to exclude Israel from the competition. However, we do not feel that withdrawing ourselves would make an impact. Instead, we have started discussions with other representatives on how to explore strategies for leveraging our collective influence and use our position to apply pressure on the decision-makers at EBU. The decision was difficult, but now it has been made. We thank everyone for the support we have received. From now on, we will focus on the music and building the show.”

The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö on May 7–11, 2024.

Source: YLE
Photo credit: YLE