Nemo, the Swiss artist who won Eurovision 2024, announced on Thursday that they would return the trophy in protest of Israel’s participation in next year’s contest.
“Eurovision says it stands for unity, inclusion, and dignity for all,” they wrote on Instagram. “Those values made this contest meaningful to me. But Israel’s participation, during what the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded to be a genocide, shows a clear conflict between those ideals and the decisions made by the EBU [European Broadcasting Union]. … I’m sending my trophy back to the EBU headquarters in Geneva.”
Last week, the EBU announced that it would not hold a vote on whether to ban Israel from competing, as constituents from some countries criticized the country’s role in its war with Hamas, thus allowing the country to submit a contestant. Organizers said it would instead implement “additional safeguards” to keep governments and third parties from influencing the results of the competition. Some broadcasters had accused Israel of using those methods to pave the way for its 2025 competitor, Yuval Raphael, to win this year’s contest.
As a result of the decision, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia all immediately announced that they would not participate in the 2026 contest. Iceland later joined them in the boycott. Ireland’s broadcaster, RTÉ, stated that its participation was “unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk.”
“If the values we celebrate onstage aren’t lived offstage, then even the most beautiful songs lose their meaning,” Nemo wrote in their statement. “I’m waiting for the moment when those words and actions align. Until then, this trophy is yours.”
A rep for the EBU did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Nemo won the 2024 contest with a performance of “The Code”; they were the first openly nonbinary person to win the contest.
Eurovision has been an event in Europe since 1956. Last year’s Eurovision attracted an estimated 166 million viewers worldwide. Next year’s will take place in May in Vienna, Austria.