Netherlands: Joost Klein had a previous confrontation with the camerawoman
The camerawoman to whom Joost Klein made a threatening gesture is said to have had an earlier altercation with the Dutch representative during the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. This is reported by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet based on the reports of the police interrogations of Klein and the woman, after the incident that cost Joost Klein his place in the Eurovision 2024 final. Aftonbladet published parts of the police reports and thus more details are revealed.
The previous incident reported by the woman allegedly took place when Klein was returning backstage. The singer had asked the woman to stop filming, which she did not do “because she had signed a document agreeing to the filming. I was just doing my job,” he said. According to the woman, the Dutch team apologized after this incident and promised that Klein “wouldn’t react this way again” during the festival.
When Klein made a threatening gesture towards her during the second incident, the woman did not react at first “because I thought Joost was joking”. Klein “became angrier. I felt scared and vulnerable,” the woman reportedly said during her first police interview the night before the final of the Song Contest.
The police informed the singer that the woman was demanding compensation of 7,000 kroner, over 600 euros. According to Aftonbladet, Klein told police interrogations that he had “vague memories of the event”. The singer in that questioning claimed that he made the threatening gesture towards the woman’s camera and not towards the woman herself. According to Aftonbladet, Klein also said at the first interrogation that he was innocent of the crime he was suspected of. “I don’t recognize myself in the incident,” Klein reportedly said.
Aftonbladet did not publish the full police report. Many passages have been blacked out.
AVROTROS and his manager Klein say the singer was “really harassed many times” during the Eurovision Song Contest, but would not comment on whether the Dutch team apologized to the woman after the first incident. The cameraman’s lawyer did not respond to the report.
The Swedish prosecutor’s office dropped the case against Klein in early August because there was not enough evidence to prove that Klein made his “threatening act” with the intention of causing “serious fear” to the camerawoman.
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Source:nltimes
