Pressure is mounting on the BBC to disqualify Olly Alexander, the British representative for Eurovision 2024 after he signed an open letter condemning Israel as an "apartheid state."
Read more:
The singer, also the frontman for the band Years & Years, was announced as the UK's Eurovision contestant on December 17. However, recent calls urge the BBC, the body responsible for selecting the country's representative, to remove Alexander just two weeks after he signed the letter criticizing Israel.
The letter, initiated by the British LGBTQ+ organization Voices4, garnered over 1,400 signatures. It alleges that Israel engages in "state-sanctioned murder" and accuses it of attempting ethnic cleansing through an "apartheid regime." The signatories express solidarity with Palestine and reject any claim that pro-Palestinian or anti-Zionist positions promote antisemitism.
Since Alexander's selection, dissenting voices have emerged due to the open letter he endorsed. The British organization, The Campaign Against Antisemitism, has called for Alexander's removal from the Eurovision competition. They argue that with nearly seven out of ten British Jews hesitant to publicly identify, he might not be the ideal representative for the country.