For the first time, victory at Eurovision claimed by a non-binary person

Eurovision 2024 winner. Photo: Epa-EFE/Jessica GOW

Swiss rapper Nemo won the "Eurovision 2024" contest with the song "The Code," a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song, about Nemo's journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person, Reuters reports.

Swiss rapper Nemo (full name – Nemo Mettler) has been known in their country since 2015. They declared themselves a "non-binary person" a couple of months before being sent to the song contest.

"I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world," Nemo said, after receiving the Eurovision trophy on stage.

"To know that a song that has changed my life and a song where I just speak about my story has touched so many people and maybe inspired other people to stay true to their story is the most insane thing that has ever happened to me," Nemo exclaimed during a press-conference.

"Nemo's victory would blaze a trail for others who had had to cope with prejudice against non-binary people," said one of the Swiss revellers when the winner was announced.

The Eurovision triumph of the non-binary rapper Nemo was the third for Switzerland after Lys Assia in 1956 and Celine Dion in 1988.

Second place went to Croatian act Baby Lasagna. Third place was taken by the Ukrainian duo Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona with their composition "Teresa & Maria."

According to the organizers, this year's contest was announced as a "feel-good celebration of European diversity".

It was only overshadowed by political aspects. Calls were made to disqualify the Israeli contestant due to its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, provoked by a deadly Hamas attack on October 7. However, the organizers refused to disqualify Golan, pointing that their contest is apolitical. On the same grounds, they discarded the first song by the Israeli singer – "October Rain", saying that both the title and the lyrics are too explicit an allusion to the Hamas attack on Israel.

At the same time, protesters at the Eurovision have been pointing to double standards as the European Broadcasting Union banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, Israeli singer Eden Golan performed at the contest with the song "Hurracaine" and finished fifth by the jury vote, though she was second by the audience vote. 

As the UOJ wrote, a non-binary participant from Ireland staged a session of Satanism at Eurovision.

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