Eurovision winner Netta offers support to UK entry after stage invasion

Israel’s Eurovision winner offered support to her British counterpart SuRie, after the latter’s performance was interrupted by a protestor.

Eurovision’s operator is investigating how a protester managed to rush the stage during the UK’s performance and snatch a microphone from singer SuRie.

The 29-year-old contestant was left clapping helplessly mid-song, after the intruder brought her rendition of ‘Storm’ to a halt and shouted about “Nazis of the UK media,” adding: “We demand freedom.”

She was offered an opportunity to perform again, but turned it down, eventually ending up 24th out of 26th in the competition. Following her performance, she tweeted: “Thank you everybody for your messages of love and support and huge congrats to Netta Barzilai, I’m so, so proud of you x

Israeli entry Netta won the contest with her song TOY, which featured an unusual chicken dance, and which was inspired by the #MeToo movement.

Netta took to Twitter to tell SuRie for her admiration for the artist in the face of a stage intruder. She wrote “I adore you for your professionalism, you did incredible”.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who congratulated Israel as a “worthy winner”, added that the stage invasion would have been SuRie’s “worst nightmare and it must have been scary”.