As there are so many posts about this topic and it's getting a bit out of hand, I'll create one central place where we can talk about this stuff and share updates.
If there are very big updates, I might create a new post as the new megathread but for now, please don't create new posts for updates but post them here as comments.
Latest news: AVROTROS (the Dutch broadcaster) released a statement. The full statement is in the comments but roughly, they state that against made agreements, Joost Klein was filmed directly after getting off the stage and getting to the greenroom. He indicated he didn't want to be filmed, but this was not respected, leading to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera, but he did not touch the camera women. This was the whole incident leading to the investigation by EBU and police, according to them.
So latest statement is he was harassed by camerapeople in an agreed-upon camera-free area, who persisted after several statements that he did not want to be filmed. Then he did not touch anyone but gestured threateningly, and was disqualified?
I'm having a hard time what gesture someone could make it me that I would find threatening. All I can think of is sliding your finger over your throat and still I'd probably find it hilariously cringe rather than intimidating
There is a video of the Israeli song-writer doing exactly this. There was a couple filming and joost walked behind them and you can see the song-writer harassing joost.
Those were rumours and all parties have said that no Journalists or other delegations were involved. It was a member of the official Eurovision producing crew.
We have taken note of the disqualification by the EBU. AVROTROS finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision. We deeply regret this.
An incident occurred after last Thursday’s performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the greenroom. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn’t respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camera woman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police.
Yesterday and today we consulted extensively with the EBU and proposed several solutions. Nevertheless, the EBU has still decided to disqualify Joost Klein. AVROTROS finds the penalty very heavy and disproportionate. We stand for good manners -let there be no misunderstanding about that- but in our view, an exclusion order is not proportional to this incident.
We are very disappointed and upset for the millions of fans who were so excited for tonight. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe shouldn’t have ended this way.
Was he the only one who was not supposed to be filmed there, or were none of the contestants supposed to be filmed there? He seemed emotional at the end of his performance and I read about how the performance was dedicated to his late father and how he’d promised his dad he’d sing on the Eurovision stage someday. Was he supposed to not be filmed there so he could have a private space for those emotions? Because that would be really awful if the TV crew was insisting on recording that private moment.
This is the stupidest load of shit ever. Let the contest die. At least fire the main responsible EBU person. Waiting for that footage to support an instant disqualify without any sort of trial whatsoever, that better be some really bad stuff.
In a multilingual environment like this competition It's possible there's was miscommunication about what's to be filmed, where, or about someone's desires to not be filmed or requests to stop (eg is it part of the persona they're putting on? The crew has their orders to film this or that).
Regardless, it seems pretty extreme to ban someone given what I've read so far, certainly the Norwegians are standing behind the person and I wouldn't think they would so strongly if they had an inkling of a suspicion that he was being abusive in any way, on the other hand I wouldn't think EBU would casually stand down someone in the last stages of the competition over nothing, but will withhold judgement until more facts are known.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I'd put money on the EBU just champing at the bit for absolutely any news to divert attention from Israel.
Such a stupid decision over an action not only completely benign, but 100% justified, has to be intentional. They want us talking about this instead of something else.
Ah, sorry for the mistake and thanks for writing here
I just locked some posts to try and get the discussion in one place, but made a mistake.
I unlocked it
The mod locked a lot of threads discussing Joost to push discussion to this thread, and the article I linked in my thread had a thumbnail of Joost, so it got caught up in the locking.