Eurovision organisers have insisted they did not censor any booing from Israel’s performance on Thursday night.
Israel’s presence in this year’s contest has been a contentious issue among Eurovision fans for a number of months now, as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with many even calling for a boycott of the broadcast.
During rehearsals for the second semi-final earlier this week, loud boos could be heard during Israeli singer Eden Golan’s performance.
However, when she performed during Thursday’s live show, this was not the case, leading many viewers to suggest that Eurovision bosses could have using technology to censor the sound of the booing. BBC News also reported on this speculation after the second semi-final aired.
A spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Just like in all major TV productions with an audience, SVT [Sweden’s national broadcaster] work on the broadcast sound to even out the levels for TV viewers. This is solely to achieve as balanced a sound mix as possible for the audience; and SVT do not censor sound from the arena audience.
“The same principle applies to all competing performances and opening and interval acts.”
’The EBU and SVT encourage all audiences to attend in the spirit of the Contest, embracing its values of inclusivity, celebrating diversity and being United By Music,” they added.
On the night, Israel made it through the first stage of the contest, with Eden Golan set to perform again during Saturday’s live final.
According to several news outlets and Eurovision fansites, Italy’s broadcaster inadvertently disclosed the results of their televoting earlier than they should have, revealing that almost 40% of Italian fans voted for Eden Golan.
In second place among Italian voters was The Netherlands, who apparently accrued just 7%.
HuffPost UK has contacted Eurovision for clarification about this.
Back in February, it was reported that Eurovision organisers had taken issue with the song Israel had submitted for this year’s contest due to its supposedly “political” lyrics.
At the time, the Israeli national broadcaster insisted that they would rather withdraw from the competition than change the lyrics of the song, which was initially titled October Rain.
However, they later appeared to have had a change of heart, after it was confirmed that Eden would be going ahead with representing Israel at the competition, with a rewritten version of her original song, now titled Hurricane.