Iceland becomes fifth country to boycott Eurovision
Iceland has joined Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands in saying it will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.
All five countries have withdrawn after Israel's participation in the competition was officially confirmed last week.
"The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV) has decided not to participate in the Eurovision song contest in Vienna, Austria, next year," a statement said after an RÚV board meeting on Wednesday.
"Participation of Israeli national broadcaster, KAN, in the contest has created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public."
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Comments12
The EBU have to address this at the show. More so if additional countries pull out. They can't just sweep this under the rug now.
If they do, it's just going to be some pablum about how Eurovision is about music bringing people together with allusions to it being bigoted to be against a fascist apartheid regime committing genocide with impunity 😮💨🤬
No way are they addressing this during the show. They know that can only make them look worse and prompt people to click away. The hosting is always light hearted and (bad) jokey, not a time they want to be delivering sincere defenses.
I suspect you're right. I don't see how it wouldn't be painfully obvious and awkward if they didn't say something?
But I know they won't.
Why? A number of countries choosing not to participate has happened in a lot of Eurovision years. Yes, this year is unusual because they are all not participating for the same reason, but thats the only difference
I feel like one of The Big Five boycotting is a significant difference, but I'm not an expert.
I am an expert. I have 12 PHDs in Eurovision.
It really felt like this was Fire Saga's year, too.
We'll make do with JaJa Ding Dong.
They really should have entered Volcano Man
That Sigrit would have ended up singing something new and getting them disqualified.
Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands okay.. but Iceland? That's gonna La La Ding Dong the whole community!