Eurovision champion Nemo returns the winner’s trophy to protest Israel’s inclusion

Nemo of Switzerland, celebrates after winning the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, on May 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

GENEVA — Swiss singer Nemo, who won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, has said they will return the winner’s trophy because Israel is being allowed to compete in the politically troubled pop music competition.

In an Instagram video, Nemo held the microphone-shaped glass ornament and said “today I no longer feel like this trophy belongs on my shelf.”

“Eurovision says it stands for unity, for inclusion and dignity for all people,” Nemo said in the post Thursday, adding that Israel’s participation, given its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza, shows those ideals are at odds with organizers’ decisions.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press on Friday, song contest director Martin Green said: ““We’re saddened that Nemo wishes to return their trophy which they deservedly won in 2024.”

“We respect the deeply held views Nemohas expressed and they will always remain a valued part of the Eurovision Song Contest family,” he added.

The nonbinary singer won the contest in May 2024 with pop-operatic ode “The Code.”

Five countries have announced they will boycott the 2026 contest after organizers declined to expel Israel: Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland.

“When entire countries withdraw it should be clear that something is deeply wrong,” Nemo said before placing the trophy in a box they said would be sent to the Geneva headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision.

Next year’s Eurovision is scheduled to take place in Vienna in May, after Austrian singer JJ won the 2025 contest in Basel, Switzerland. By Eurovision tradition, the winning country hosts the following year.

The walkouts cast a cloud over the future of what’s meant to be a feel-good cultural party marked by friendly rivalry and disco beats.

The contest, which turns 70 in 2026, strives to put pop before politics, but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It has been roiled by the war in Gaza for the past two years, stirring protests outside the venues and forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

Opponents of Israel’s participation cite the war in Gaza, where more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government and whose detailed records are viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Israel’s government has repeatedly defended its campaign as a response to the attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023. The militants killed around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — in the attack and took 251 hostage.

A number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said that Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, a claim Israel has vigorously denied.