Ukraine: Suspilne on Joost Klein and his song about Russia!

Yesterday, AVROTROS, the Dutch national broadcaster, revealed that Joost Klein will represent The Netherlands at Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Just a day following his reveal as the Dutch representative, his background has already raised concerns among the Eurovision community, even with a participating broadcaster drawing attention to it.

Specifically, Suspilne, the Ukrainian national broadcaster, published an article today about the Dutch rapper, Joost Klein and his relations with Russia.

According to this article, Joost Klein has a song in his discography in which he expresses his love about Russia. The song in question is called “Jackass“, was recorded in collaboration with CMH, who is a Russian artist and was published on March 11, 2022, following the Russian invasion in Ukraine. The lyrics are also considered controversial. Indicatively the lyrics in question are the following:

Hello, my name is Joost Klein
I love Russia, man
I believe, you wanna merry Russian woman

[…]

I want a Russian lady
I want some Russian babies

Along with his collaboration with CMH, Joost Klein has also collaborated with Russian Village Boys, a rave group from St. Petersburg, released in February 2023.

Furthermore, Joost Klein has performed in St. Petersburg in July 2022 during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The reactions

Users on X (formerly Twitter) have mixed feelings regarding Joost’s collaborations and admiration for Russian culture. Some of the claim that his actions are despicable and that no one can admire a culture based on terror and genocide. Others state that loving Russian women or admiring the Russian culture does not necessarily mean that someone approves the country’s political regime.

Suspilne does not places itself on this certain issue. Although, bearing in mind that a national broadcaster decided to cover this issue, a sensitive one, indicates that it has raised concerns. The fact that a Eurovision artist has collaborated with Russian artists and the most important, has performed in Russian territory following the invasion, is not looked up kindly by the Ukrainian broadcaster.

A similar issue was, also, raised last year regarding Olesya Ochepovska, member of Vesna (the Czech representatives). Ochepovska is of Russian origin and there were allegations that herself supports the war, something that she denied.

As mentioned before and following an extensive internal selection, Joost Klein will represent The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö. His song is expected to be released at a later stage.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: Suspilne