Boycott Eurovision: KNEECAP, Massive Attack, The Mary Wallopers sign No Music For Genocide open letter

KNEECAP, Massive Attack and The Mary Wallopers are among the artists who have signed an open letter calling for a boycott of Eurovision.

The letter, which comes as part of the No Music For Genocide campaign calling on artists to remove their music from streaming services in Israel, calls out Eurovision's decision to include Israel in the annual competition. The contest is set to take place from May 12 through May 16.

Other artists who have signed the letter include Brian Eno, Macklemore, Charlie McGettigan, Sigur Rós and Black Country, New Road.

"For the third consecutive year,” the letter states, Israel will be “celebrated onstage despite its ongoing genocide in Gaza, while Russia remains banned for its illegal invasion of Ukraine.”

Russia has been banned from competing since 2022, and are additionally prohibited from competing in the olympics.

“We refuse to be silent when Israel’s genocidal violence soundtracks and silences Palestinian lives,” the letter continues.

“When children in Israeli prisons endure beatings for humming a tune. When all that’s left of nearly every stage, studio, bookshop and university in Gaza is piles of rubble, under which slaughtered bodies still await recovery and proper burial.”

Signees call on broadcasters, performers and fans to join them in the boycott until the European Broadcasting Union agrees to ban Israeli broadcaster KAN. In protest, broadcasters in Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, Iceland and the Netherlands have already withdrawn from airing the competition.

“As artists, we recognise our collective agency—and the power of refusal. We refuse to be silent. We refuse to be complicit," the letter concludes.