Rylan Clark has defended the Eurovision Song Contest amid protests in Malmo, claiming ‘it should just be about the music’, he told GMB on Thursday.
The TV presenter, 35, praised the city for hosting the Eurovision despite the many demonstrations being held.
A pro-Palestinian march is expected to be held on Thursday, with Swedish Police Authority saying it will cause “disturbance to traffic”.
Joining Scott Mills to chat with Richard Arnold live from Sweden on Good Morning Britain, Rylan said ‘everyone has the right to protest’, but the contest should be ‘just about the music’.
Rylan, who is hosting the BBC’s competition coverage, said: ‘I think Malmö is doing an amazing job of hosting the Eurovision. The climate in the world at the minute isn’t great and we’re not silly to not understand that there is a lot going on in the world.
Rylan Clark, 35, has defended the Eurovision Song Contest amid protests in Malmo, claiming ‘it should just be about the music’, he told GMB on Thursday
The TV presenter praised the city for hosting the Eurovision despite the many demonstrations being held
‘But I think in the Eurovision bubble, it’s a song contest and that is what we are here for. The city has done an amazing job.
‘As you [Richard] briefly mentioned earlier, there is a lot of demonstrations happening and stuff and people have the right to do that but us it’s just about the music.’
Israel’s Eurovision performance was booed and faced with chants of ‘Free Palestine’ in chaotic scenes on Tuesday night.
Eden Golan was nearly drowned out by the demonstrators chanting against her nation while she performed ‘Hurricane’ during the Eurovision Song Contest’s Jury Show.
Videos shared online show pro-Palestine activists disrupting almost her entire performance, with people in the crowd calling the atmosphere ‘horrible’.
The 20-year-old singer, who was born in Israel but grew up in Russia, has faced death threats ahead of her performances at the Malmo Arena in Sweden in the competition this week.
It comes after calls for Israel to be barred from competing in Eurovision following the war in Gaza, which has seen 33,000 Palestinians killed after Hamas launched a series of terrorist attacks.
Golan had caused controversy after she was accused of referencing the kidnapping and killing Israelis on October 7 by militant group Hamas with the lyrics of her original song, October Rain.
Joining Scott Mills (right) to chat with Richard Arnold live from Sweden on Good Morning Britain, Rylan said ‘everyone has the right to protest’, but the contest should be ‘just about the music’
Rylan, who is hosting the BBC’s competition coverage, said: ‘I think Malmö is doing an amazing job of hosting the Eurovision… there is a lot of demonstrations happening and stuff and people have the right to do that but us it’s just about the music.’
Israel’s Eurovision performance was booed and faced with chants of ‘Free Palestine’ in chaotic scenes on Tuesday night
Footage showed members of the crowd booing and shouting during Eden Golan’s performance on Wednesday night
One person in the crowd said they had taken part in the protest and admitted to booing and shouting ‘Free Palestine’ at the singer
Eden (pictured here during her second dress rehearsal) has been targeted by death threats for taking part in the show
Israel’s Eurovision hopeful Eden has been told to only come out of her hotel room to perform over fears for her safety
The 20-year-old arrived in host city Malmo, in Sweden, on Tuesday afternoon for rehearsals and will reportedly be under round-the-clock bodyguard protection
Israel were told to change the lyrics of its song submission for this year’s competition or risk being disqualified
This was later replaced by Hurricane, a soulful and heartfelt track that was then approved by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the event.
The protest during her performance took place during the jury show, which is held before the televised programme to allow jurors to give their scores early in case there are issues with the voting later on.
The arena was full of thousands of people who have flocked to the city of Malmo in south Sweden for Eurovision, the grand final of which is set to take place on Saturday.
Following her performance people shared videos on social media showing people booing while Golan was singing.
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