The Eurovision photographer at the centre of the Joost Klein harassment case will not appeal the decision by Swedish police to drop the case against the Dutch singer.
As Aftonbladet reports, the unnamed photographer wants to move on with her life.
“My client wants to focus on her mental well-being,” her lawyer Kristoffer Ståhl told the newspaper.
“My client holds no grudge against Mr. Klein. She believes that violence should not be accepted anywhere, regardless of adrenaline or upset feelings.”
“During this process, she has had to endure hate and also threats online. Therefore, my client now wants to focus on her mental well-being, move on with her life and professional career as a photographer. My client will not appeal the decision to drop the case and will not comment further on this matter.”
Eurovision photographer won’t appeal Joost Klein case citing her mental health
You’ll recall that Joost was disqualified from the final after an incident backstage where he was accused of threatening the photographer.
The reasoning from the EBU at the time was that it would not be appropriate for Joost to participate in the Grand Final because police were investigating his threatening behaviour toward the photographer during said incident.
But in August Malmö’s Public Prosecutor’s Office officially dropped its investigation.
“Today I have closed the investigation because I cannot prove that the act was capable of causing serious fear or that the man had any such intention,” the senior prosecutor elaborated to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“It was confirmed that there had been a movement towards the film camera by the accused and that the movement hit the film camera, but for it to be an unlawful threat I would have to assume, that his intention with that action was to induce serious fear towards or simply threaten her. Based on the situation, which was a quick sequence of events in a special situation, I cannot sufficiently prove that he did it to threaten her. I can’t conclude anything other than the intention was to influence the filming, he simply didn’t want to be filmed.”
During the police interrogation, the woman described how Joost became “angrier and angrier.”
Aftonbladet took part in the interrogation and reported on it earlier this week.
“I felt scared and vulnerable and everything happened so fast.”
Joost Klein said he did not fully remember the incident: “I don’t recognize myself in this situation.”
“B-but he THREATENED me!!!!!!1111!!!!” :'( :'( :'(
“Okay, show us proof then?”
“LMAO actually never mind”
^^^^basically what just happened, big sign this was a fact load of nothing just as a lot of us had expected this whole time
whats done is done
Mental health my ***. These days anyone with the slightest minor setback blames everything on ‘anxiety’, ‘depression’ and the like. The term “mental health” has lost all significant meaning in favor of being used as an excuse for one’s own miserable shortcomings. I expect her to be no different, so don’t expect me to sympathize with this lady
I’m sorry but the complainant sounds like a Karen to me and if Joost did get angrier and angrier then why not just comply with his request and stop effing filming him.
Klein is the real Caren.
Did he run to the police?
Klein is more like a god, in the eyes of smug avrotros
i can see Netherlands staying away for 3 or 4 years, or maybe longer lol
but do i care, nope, i can also watch the contest on VRT, better commentary too with legendary Peter van der Veire 😉 you don’t scare me and without us competing, no stress for me, no voting for me, just enjoying the shows
Haha, this comment is so gratuitous. Are you sure it doesn’t matter to you? You are here every day to make cynical and hateful comments of your own country, so secretly it’s very important to you.
Montenegro: Montesong on 26, 27 November
Lady should be ashamed. She took the money from Israelis to provoke Joost and then they used his reaction to create drama and call the police. After covering his face with a flag during Eden’s speach he basically was a threat to Israeli propaganda, especially that he would have won the televote.
Then why didn’t you testify? ? That’s important information!
No conspiracy theories please
No naivety please
Do you have any proof for your accusations? If not, you’re just spreading anti-Semitism.
How could this lady have endured hate and threats? After all, her identity has never been made public. I have the idea that it is all being exaggerated.
How much money did she get? This case sucks. EBU and SVT, corruption is everywhere . If you don, t like the outcome we change it. This is how it works , unfortionally.
This is so sad for her. Being harrassed and and death threatened by thousands of Joost angry fans and probably Dutchies… She’s right to move on, but I’m sad she had to give up. But this sacrifice of the truth is for her mental health so I wish her the best. Stop normalizing violences against women, please!!!
Stop it Ellen! You’re overreacting.. violence against women my ***, this is about a person and in this case the photographer not respecting a performers boundaries.. she clearly didn’t understand the assignment
Why are you violent towards me? I just give my honest opinion ?
Stop framing, there was no violence, she filed a complaint because of a threat (that can’t be proven) not because of violence, it’s women like you who go to the police no matter what, who make real victims stay at home. And how do you know she was threatened by 1000’s of fans? Her identity was never made public. You are spreading lies again.
It’s because of people like you that normalize acts of violence that women get told “it’s not that important” while it is. Get lost you ab*ser complicit
Probably Dutchies… please stick to the facts no one knew who the lady was, they kept her name a secret (and so they should)
What’s infuriating is that EBU did nothing to stop the misinformation about Joost’s incident from spreading. No one online was a witness to this incident.
If you didn’t witness it, how do you know it is misinformation? That’s what the POLICE were investigating, it was not the job of the EBU to solve it.
Or comment on an ongoing police probe. Plus they had like 24 hours in the busiest week of their calendar year to figure this out. Tough.
If they can’t stand the heat… then you get disproportionate measures.
It’s their party and thus their responsibility.
They could have let him compete with his Semi 2 performance. He did for the jury show and in 21 the Icelandic group competed with rehearsal footage as one of them had COVID. The Dutch broadcaster explained what happened from Joost POV the guy is on the autism spectrum and he had specifically asked not to be filmed after his performance as the song is about his dead parents and is emotional for him. I know that intimidation against women is a thing you need to be mindful about but some women will weaponise that to be entitled and like… Read more »
Quelle surprise
This community is just toxic. Shame on you.
Klein likely overreacted , the camera operator was likely pushy. However, the real problem here is the EBU, the organisation. There were many incidents, reports from different nations teams about not feeling safe, not being taken seriously. Some, including the later winner, even considered withdrawing. Clearly the organisation did not do their job. Instead of dealing with this, they punished Klein over one such incident and in doing so they removed a prominent competitor from the competition. If the EBU does not admit fault and clean house, I don’t see how the Eurovision Song Contest escapes without losing a lot… Read more »
I’d also automatically qualify the Netherlands to the final next year as an apology too.
Surprised she didn’t bulldoze his room and then build a settlement on it.
the woman is not to blame. if you feel threatened then you feel threatened and then you should have all the space to file a complaint. The organization should then deal with that wisely. The woman also filed a complaint with the police and they also investigated. The one who did it wrong is the EBU, guilty was the answer without a good and proper investigation. all attention had to disappear from a certain country about which multiple complaints were received. And they must have thought, at least the sponsor, this is the way. How can you say that you… Read more »
https://youtu.be/a7c5s7hSbAg?feature=shared
Watch this, from SVT today
Warning, the Israeli HoD is playing the victim card VERY HARD
No side is innocent in this real mess that was this years Eurovision, the main difference is that only some of the factors here have taken responsibility for their part in all this.
EBU and Israel has shown no sign whatsoever of self examination for their actions, instead they play the victim card over and over again which only leads to more and more hate towards Israel:
That is what makes me angry at the moment
Super interesting watch… Thanks so much for the link.
What I never understood with this case is that it all happened backstage, with cameras and everything (I mean, that’s kinda the starting point of this mess), but we don’t have a single footage of what happened? Plus you’re telling me that there aren’t security cameras covering every single corner in the arena and in backstage for such an event? If so it could be interesting that EBU and organizers to rethink their security plans… In the end we will never know the truth. I will never blame a victim but I’m also not gonna blame Joost because it seems… Read more »
I don’t really blame the EBU. The woman filed a report with the police, they are the authority in charge of the investigation. The EBU did the right thing by stepping aside. I think. In any other workplace environment, if a complaint is made against somebody (especially with police involvement) the employee is suspended until the matter is resolved. That’s due process.
Remember how Will Smith clobbered Chris Rock at the Oscars, on live television… then got a standing ovation as he accepted his Best Actor award. Life is funny.
And afterwards he was given a 10 year ban from the Academy Awards.
He really should have been thrown out on to the street immediately, though. Not given a standing ovation.
Chris Rock deserve it because he’s making jokes at Will’s wife and family in front of so many celebrities at Academy Awards. Will might be ban for 10 years but at least he is proud to stand up for his spouse and family. I guess you won’t like it if someone makes jokes about your spouse and family in the public
Chris Rock is a comedian and guess what a comedian does? They make jokes. Will Smith and his spouse have been embarrassing themselves for years. He and his wife are both disgusting.
Even though he’s a comedian there’s a limit, you don’t go digging people private life and make jokes in front of the public ( celebrities) and that’s disrespectful,if he’s overboard that’s what he deserves,
Comedians can pick their targets and Rock chose to target a woman with a condition. Funny how everyone is all defend women with Klein but Smith can’t defend his own wife. Interesting. Yes he overacted but so did the lady in Malmö.
I would protect my partner in the same way! #TeamWillSmith
I agree regarding the EBU… They were caught between a police complaint and a TV show. That said I don’t think they did a good job throughout the contest. ESC was like actual ‘the wild wild west’ as opposed to the Icelandic national entry. PS: the use of the term ‘victim’ in here is getting tired. A victim doesn’t close off their complaint with the phrase ‘they hold no grudge’. Had something beyond a dual-responsibility fracas occured, grudges would be tightly held. Anywho… Over and out… Until someone leaks some ‘found footage’… My favorite horror type 🙂
Happy Autumn ??
Yeah, the EBU definitely DEFINITELY could have handled other matters better, such as the behaviour of certain delegations etc.
Happy autumn, doctor.
They could have let Klein compete with his filmed Semi 2 performance. He wasn’t going to win as the televote was too split, his nemesis country had their thumb on the scales there and it wasn’t a jury song in fact we know that Klein’s jury score was in the middle of their ranking but interestingly enough higher than Israel’s. Switzerland were always going to win but were helped by this and Slimane for France kinda stuffing up his jury performance who was Nemo main rival with the juries.
In many companies and countries people don’t go to the police for a small incident like this, when people get mad at each other they will fix it internally, EBU never mentioned the very tensed circumstances under which the incident took place, circumstances they created.
EBU failed in protecting both employees and artists
Well played Israel!
Wonder how much she got paid by Israelis to create that whole drama
By the way, why is this woman’s identity not disclosed? If she is so sure about her honest behaviour in this case, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Why, so you can harass and dox her?
Have you heard of the right to be anonomous?
If you destroy someone’s right to take part in the final, because you think you are in the right, at least have the guts to be honest about your identity. Anyone can claim anything anonymously.
I think I know who she is, but I’don’t want people to hurt, harm or harass her, she felt threatened and she went to the police, we all have the right to do that, it’s the EBU who acted too fast, without a proper and independent investigation, blame them.
Yeah, except it wasn’t claimed anonymously. The woman went to the police, they do not accept anonymous accusations.
Dutch media clearly state that the woman had bothered Joost before and so had gone against the agreement that had been made not to bother the artist again. Now that the police say there is no evidence, the woman obviously feels she does not have a solid case to pursue and gives in. Because there never has been a solid case. If I were Joost, I would sue the EBU and the woman for damages. A lot of damages. People must be considered innocent until proven guilty and Joost’s unjust case clearly shows this once again. By making him miss… Read more »
They are calling it a day and that’s the right thing to do, enough is enough.
Just because there was no evidence does not mean anything happened. Perhaps the woman did feel threatened, who knows how we would act in a similar situation .
Perhaps both did wrong or maybe none of them did anything wrong . None of us know the full situation. But I refuse to believe the woman is some sort of Karen, things are never black or white
The verdict is out and the best thing is really to move on, forget and live your best life. We should never judge or scorn anybody we dont actually know anything about
Just because something could’ve been happened won’t mean that a disqualification was appropriate.
A lot of the comments here and on the Facebook post about it are absolutely disgusting. People wonder how other celebrities get away with such vile acts for so long. This is why. Because their “fan base” fiercely defends that celebrity, make all sorts of excuses for them, and they go on a smear campaign of the accuser/victim which makes it impossible for any victim to come forward or appeal. Every time someone says an accuser should be sued/never work again just because of lack of evidence against the accused, it contributes to other victims of crime being too afraid… Read more »
We dont know the act or what actually happened so you can’t say Joost got away with it. All we know is that he did a movement towards her. But we don’t know the full story. We don’t know what movement or what happened before. Maybe she was told to not take pictures and still did it, or maybe she never got the message.
Agreed, but hardly surprising that people who defend an abuser turn out to be abusive themselves.
Stop talking like Joost is Jimmy effing Saville – he pushed a camera however immidated the woman felt calling him an abuser insults real abuse victims.
Please don’t compare those cases with this one, pressure was high, Joost got too angry, overreacted, immediately apologised and that’s it, People said ugly things about the photographer, but some people, especially here on wiwibloggs, said very ugly things about Joost as well. People should stick to the facts.
Let this be the end of this. It was wrong of Joost, that’s true, but I hope that incompetent woman becomes and remains unemployed from anything journalism/photography related.
I’m not a Joost stan in the slightest, but this whole case was stupidity on an improbably large scale that never should have happened to begin with. All sides consisted of wrongdoing.
But with that said, let this be the end, close the book, start a new chapter
Her words now are worthless to us. She could have talked it out with Joost and the Dutch delegation when it happened and not ruin Eurovision for millions of Dutch fans.
We hold a grudge.
In 2022 there was actually footage that can still be found online of Michael Ben David kissing Sheldon Riley on the mouth against his will and slapping one of the Advahov brothers in the face. But we all know that for EBU some countries are more equal than others.
Yes there are different rules for different countries. That is obvious. It is clear that by EBU a threatening movement is a worse offence than actual physical harassment…
Joost was wrong to do what he did, and he suffered heavy consequences as a result. Perhaps an anger management course would do him good. I have no hate toward this woman at all. It’s possible she was also in the wrong, if she was knowingly filming him against his will. I don’t know. We’ll probably never know. Hopefully we can put this matter to bed and never speak of it again.
There isn’t a case. She DOES NOT have a case. There never was a case…
God, I’m so f***ing done with this. And whoever this woman is, she should never be able to get herself a backstage pass. She’s the one who let Joost and our entire country being disqualified.
Not to say that everything was on her, because the EBU made a huge mess as well. But our disqualification was the cherry on top and I don’t see many Dutch fans, including myself, who’d like to see us return in 2025. F*** this. She makes my blood boil after reading this.
So every victim which sadly cannot prove something happened should just stay quiet?
Wow, what a wonderful point of view.
Oh, so we should label anyone as abuser, when there is no evidence they did anything?
How do you know she is the victim? What evidence do we have of that? Just because she claimed something doesn’t mean it actually happend.
She was unprofessional, and broke the rules, it’s her fault, SHE was the abuser. Emotional abuse is a real thing you know.
“Victim.” Lol.
This story smells more and more like bulls*it. Very unexpected… *cough*