Sore losers are a common phenomenon, and the Eurovision Song Contest has produced a sore winner, Switzerland’s Nemo, who announced last December that they were returning their 2024 trophy because Israel had not been banned following a meeting of the governing body of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Now, rumors are swirling that Nemo returned the statuette, a glass microphone, carelessly and that it shattered on the way back to the headquarters of the EBU in Geneva, according to a report on the Eurovision Fun website.
Eurovision Fun’s reporter, Pavlos Klagos, wrote on Sunday, “According to unverified reports circulating among ESC insiders, the glass microphone may have reached the EBU poorly protected and severely damaged- allegedly wrapped only in toilet paper and arriving completely shattered. The rumors have drawn attention precisely because of the trophy’s notorious fragility.” Blick, a Swiss news outlet, also reported that the trophy was inadequately wrapped and shattered.
Eurovision trophy prone to shattering
Over the years, the glass microphone trophy has shattered a number of times, including at the 2024 celebration.
Nemo, who had just been awarded the trophy, suffered a hand injury when it broke, and he needed to see a doctor. He was given a replacement, and the first one was fixed and sent to him later, according to Eurovision Fun.
When asked what condition the statue was in when it reached the EBU headquarters, the organization released a statement that said:
“We regret that Nemo chose to return the trophy that was rightfully and deservedly won in 2024. We respect the deeply held views expressed at the time, and Nemo will always remain a valued member of the Eurovision Song Contest family.”
Nemo's alleged Nazi ties
Nemo also declined to comment. The singer has also been in the headlines recently due to revelations that his family was Nazi sympathizers during World War II.
Christoph Mörgeli wrote in the Swiss magazine Weltwoche in January that Nemo’s great-grandfather, Arnold Mettler-Specker, a wealthy businessman, was an open supporter of Nazism, which led neighbors to call him “Hitler-Mettler.”
The magazine reported that during World War II, Mettler-Specker and his wife, Elsa, funded fascist and antisemitic movements in Switzerland, such as the National Front.
The website Euromix posted this quote from Mörgeli’s article: “If Nemo moralizes about the Middle East conflict, he must understand that the very existence of Israel is tied to the genocide of the Jewish people. He should have acknowledged that his family once supported Nazism intellectually, practically, and financially – an ideology responsible for that genocide in the first place.”
Euromix noted that Nemo reportedly snubbed Israel’s 2024 contestant, Eden Golan, backstage at the song competition in Malmo.