[Source: AP News]
Sweden on Monday dropped its investigation into a backstage altercation in May involving a Dutch contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest who was expelled from the competition hours before the final.
After fan favorite Joost Klein was booted out, organizers said the reason was a probe by Swedish police into “a complaint made by a female member of the production crew.”
In its new statement, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said the investigation concluded that “the man made a movement that hit the woman’s camera,” adding that “the course of events was fast and was perceived differently by the witnesses of the incident.”
He did not name Klein. The 26-year-old singer and rapper had been a bookies’ favorite with his song “Europapa,” an upbeat ode to the continent’s diversity that is also a tribute to his parents, who died as a child.
EBU Deputy Director-General Jean Philip De Tender added that the Swedish police investigation was “not whether Mr Klein behaved inappropriately and breached ESC rules and procedures. Therefore, This new development does not impact our decision which we stand by completely.”
