Legendary American pop star Madonna is now expected to perform at the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 which is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv on 18 May, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The famous singer will perform two songs, one of them from her upcoming album, with the cost of this whole endeavour being covered by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams who “saw the importance of bringing the iconic singer to Tel Aviv and creating a memorable historic performance”, according to Live Nation.
News of this development evoked a somewhat mixed reaction on social media, as a number of netizens did not seem particularly thrilled by Madonna’s upcoming performance.
— Pia 🇮🇸🇮🇹🇸🇮 (@escxvision) 8 апреля 2019 г.
We want MARUV not Madonna
— Leptis Magna (@leptismagna22) 8 апреля 2019 г.
— yo 🇳🇱 (@coliverism) 8 апреля 2019 г.
— Laura Charlesworth (@Lauranelly95) 8 апреля 2019 г.
Some, however, welcomed the news.
So awesome.
— Adam Gordon (@AdamGordon1977) 8 апреля 2019 г.
One in the eye for all those that wanted to boycott.
— RussellBln (@BlnRussell) 8 апреля 2019 г.
— T🐶ny (@Ynot0201) 8 апреля 2019 г.
Previously, a total of 171 Swedish artists and celebrities signed an open letter urging a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.
A number of British cultural figures, including Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, earlier published a similar letter calling on stars to boycott Eurovision in Israel, citing its "occupation of Palestinian territories". A similar petition has also appeared in Portugal.
