Following Windows95man’s win at the Finnish national final UMK, there was some speculation regarding whether or not the artist would actually decide to represent Finland in Eurovision. However, YLE has confirmed that after a discussion with both Teemu Keisteri (Windows95man) and his co-artist Henri Piispanen, they came to an agreement regarding their Eurovision participation.
Statements from YLE and the artists
Finland’s participation in Eurovision this year was not 100% certain up til now, considering their stance towards the participation of Israel in the contest this year. However, Finnish broadcaster Yle has now stated that:
“Yle has decided to respect the European Broadcasting Union EBU’s judgment on the TV companies participating in the contest. We understand that there are various justified perspectives related to this issue. Yle has informed the EBU about the discussion in Finland and the Finnish representative’s view on the situation. We hope that the situation in the Middle East will resolve as soon as possible.”
Ville Vilén, Yle’s Director of Creative Content and Media and Editor-in-Chief
In the same manner, Windows95man expressed concern regarding the inclusion of Israel in this year’s contest. Now that he has confirmed to indeed be representing Finland in Eurovision this year, he and Henri Piispanen have stated the following:
“We think that the only correct decision for the EBU would be to exclude Israel from the competition. However, we do not feel that withdrawing ourselves would make an impact. Instead, we have started discussions with other representatives on how to explore strategies for leveraging our collective influence and use our position to apply pressure on the decision-makers at EBU. The decision was difficult, but now it has been made. We thank everyone for the support we have received. From now on, we will focus on the music and building the show.”
Teemu Keisteri and Henri Piispanen to Yle
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