Entertainment figures add names to letter rejecting calls to kick Israel out of Eurovision

Artists and entertainment industry officials have signed an open letter rejecting calls to ban Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest, ahead of the competition set to take place in Vienna next month.

The latest signatories to the letter included comedian Amy Schumer, actress Mila Kunis, singer Matisyahu, actors Anthony Edwards and Jerry O’Connell, and writers Erin Foster and Matthew Weiner, said pro-Israel industry group Creative Community For Peace, which organized the initiatives.

Their names were added to a similar call in a 2024 letter signed by over 400 people, including actors Helen Mirren and Liev Schreiber, and musician Gene Simmons.

Creative Community For Peace said that there were now over 1,000 signatories.

There have been growing calls to remove Israel from Eurovision over the destruction in Gaza during the war following the Hamas-led onslaught onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Last year’s winner has said he hoped Israel would be kicked out, and five nations pulled out of this year’s Eurovision after the contest’s governing body in December overruled calls to boycott Israel.

In the open letter published Wednesday, pro-Israel entertainment figures said they support the decision against expelling Israel.

“We have been shocked and disappointed to see some members of the entertainment community calling for Israel to be banished from the Contest for responding to the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” the signatories said.

“This current round of fighting is not a war that Israel wanted or started,” they said. “To punish Israel would be an inversion of justice.”

“Furthermore, we believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and unite people of all backgrounds through their shared love of music,” said the letter. “Those who are calling for Israel’s exclusion are subverting the spirit of the Contest and turning it from a celebration of unity into a tool of politics.”

Israel will be represented at the upcoming contest by Noam Bettan with the song “Michelle.”

The 28-year-old was born in Israel to French immigrants and performs the song mainly in French, with some Hebrew and a smattering of English.

Bettan is expected to face protests, threats, booing and Palestinian flags, much like Eden Golan in Malmö, Sweden, in 2024 and Eden Raphael in Basel, Switzerland, in 2025.

Amy Spiro contributed to this report.