Dutch television AVROTROS This Saturday she declared herself “upset and disappointed” by the disqualification of his representative, Joost Kleinin Eurovision and has reproached the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for having applied “a disproportionate punishment” for “a threatening gesture.”

“An incident occurred this Thursday after the performance. Contrary to some claims, Joost was recorded just after getting off stage and had to run to the greenroom. At that time, Joost repeatedly asked that he did not want to be recorded. This was not respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost to the camera. He didn’t touch the woman of the camera. “This incident was reported after an investigation by the police,” they explain in the statement.

Furthermore, the network assures that it has tried without success to prevent Klein’s expulsion from the competition: “Yesterday and today we spoke with the EBU and proposed different solutions. Despite this, the EBU has decided to exclude Joost Klein. AVROTROS sees the sanction as very harsh and disproportionate. “We defend good manners (let there be no misunderstanding with that), but for us, an expulsion is not proportional to this incident.”

“We are very upset and disappointed for all those who were looking forward to tonight’s performance. What Joost contributed to the Netherlands and Eurovision should not have ended like this,” they concluded.