Last May, when Eurovision broadcast the musical competition’s semifinals, viewers at home noticed something strange. During rehearsals with a live audience earlier in the week, audience members loudly booed singer Eden Golan, the Israeli entrant whose participation stirred a controversy due to Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza.
When Golan performed live for television on May 9, 2024, however, viewers at home heard no audible boos at all. Had the audiences had a sudden change of heart over a few short days? Commenters online didn’t think so, and speculation ran rampant that the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, which produces Eurovision, had censored boos from the live show.
There was booing during Golan’s May 9 television performance, with one audience member loudly shouting “Free Palestine!”
In statements at the time, EBU insisted it had not censored any audience reactions.
“Just like in all major TV productions with an audience, SVT” — the national broadcaster in Sweden, where the 2024 Eurovision was hosted — “work on the broadcast sound to even out the levels for TV viewers,” the EBU told HuffPost UK. “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.”
An analysis of the original broadcast audio feeds by The Intercept shows that there was indeed booing during Golan’s May 9 television performance, with one audience member loudly shouting “Free Palestine!” during the recording. While the cheers from the audience feed remain prominent in the broadcast mix of the audio, neither the booing nor the pro-Palestine slogan were audible in the version of the performance viewers heard at home.
Listen to clips of both audio feeds below. Enable closed captions for notations of audience reactions.
