Part 8: 1978 (And The Winner Is...?)
Continues tomorrow.
THE BIGGEST
CONTROVERSIES
Of the
EUROVISION
SONG CONTEST
(1956
- 2019)
From
its inaugural year, the Eurovision Song Contest has had more than its fair
share of controversial moments. This is a special look back on 30 significant upsets
in chronological order.
1978
And
The Winner Is…?
For the first time, the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast
in Dubai. Other Arab and African nations also televised the Contest. As some of
these nations do not recognize the state of Israel, they did not show the
Israeli entry “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”, performed by Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta. Instead,
viewers in these countries were given an extra commercial break!
As the night was concluding, it became clear that the Israeli
entry was going to win. This posed a serious problem for those African and Middle
Eastern broadcasters. The entry they had cut out of the broadcast was going to
be declared the victor and would therefore perform the song again.
Rather than presenting a win for Israel, many of these countries
terminated the broadcast abruptly. Jordanian viewers were shown a bunch of
flowers instead of the result due to ‘technical difficulties’. They were later
told that Belgium (the runner-up) had won!
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