Finland: UMK 2024 artists threaten to withdraw from Eurovision if Israel competes!
Following the petition signed by more than a thousand Finnish musicians claiming Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision 2024, it now appears that even UMK 2024 artists are up to the same direction.
Some of the participants of UMK 2024, the Finnish national preselection for Eurovision 2024, have already spoken out against Israel’s participation in Eurovision.
Specifically, two artists have publicly expressed their opposition with Israel’s participation and most importantly threaten to withdraw from the competition in case Israel finally competes.
Who is ready to withdraw if Israel competes?
Jesse Markin, who will claim the Finnish representation in Malmö with his song “Glow“, has stated that he is ready to turn down his Eurovision participation -if he wins UMK 2024- and not go to Eurovision if Israel is still in.
I feel at this stage that it is more important to make human rights issues visible. At the same time, I think that whoever ends up representing Finland should represent Finland specifically and listen to the voice of the Finnish people as well as their own voice. I feel that in this situation, many Finns agree on this issue.
But for now, let’s hope that the EBU will make some kind of decision about Israel, and that Finland will get to Malmö.
Sini Sabotage, who participates in UMK 2024 with her song “Kuori Mua“, has also criticized Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision 2024’s participating countries list and mentions that if she wins, she will then consider her Eurovision participation.
I’m of the opinion that Israel should not take part in Eurovision, but unfortunately I can’t make that decision myself. I’ve granted myself a grace period, as I’m just about to take part in the UMK contest. If I win, I will have to think about it. Under no circumstances do I want to support war.
YLE’s response
As UMK artists are publicly speaking out against Israel and while their is no sign that EBU is anywhere close in disqualifying Israel from the competition, YLE has a back-up plan in case the winner of the pre-selection refuses to go to Eurovision.
According to UMK’s executive producer Anssi Autio, there is nothing to worry about since:
[…] UMK is a separate competition. I want to emphasise that, as Jesse said in his post, he is still 110 percent involved in UMK.
Only one [UMK] act will go to Eurovision — the winner. UMK’s final takes place in a month, and the situation might be very different and at that time the EBU might have already arranged things differently.
About Jesse Markin’s statements, he mentioned that:
I don’t think that Jesse Markin is somehow unique with this opinion.
Hence, bearing in mind that voices speaking out against Israel are becoming stronger, YLE has a back-up plan for Eurovision, without disclosing any information about what the plan includes.
UMK 2024
The seven artists who will compete for the Finnish representation in Malmö are the following:
- Cyan Kicks – “Dancing With Demons”
- Sexmane – “Mania”
- Sara Siipola – “Paskana”
- Jesse Markin – “Glow”
- Windows95Man – “No Rules!”
- Sini Sabotage – “Kuori Mua”
- Mikael Gabriel x NUBLU – “Vox Populi”
The UMK grand final will take place on Saturday, 10 February, 20:00 CET and will be broadcast on Yle TV1, Yle Areena and Yle radio channels.
Finland’s second place in last year’s competition with Käärijä and “Cha Cha Cha”, raised the bar high for the Finns, as the promise us a more exciting show.
Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!
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