Israeli Dark Horse Performance Cinches Eurovision Finals Spot

Image by Eurovision

By Josefin Dolsten May 12, 2016

Israeli singer Hovi Star lived up to the second part of his stage name at the Eurovision semi-finals Thursday, as his performance garnered enough points to qualify for Saturday’s finals.

After a stellar performance during a rehearsal last week, Star became a favorite as odds of him winning were changed from 1/150 to 1/25, Metro UK reported, calling the song “one of the most enchanting Eurovision ballads of the year.” Later the odds were further reduced to 1/8, Haaretz reported.

Israel! Listen here: https://t.co/jtRfHqhSp8 https://t.co/OCaaTmzcxQ

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— Eurovision (@Eurovision) May 12, 2016

Star, whose real name is Hovav Sekulets, said last month that he had been stopped and laughed at by airport officials in Moscow, when traveling to a Eurovision preview event, suggesting his sexual orientation may have been the reason for the harassment.

“Maybe people in Moscow have a rough time with people like me, maybe because I’m gay, maybe because I dress like this, maybe because I wear make-up, I don’t know. But when I wanted to get into Moscow, I had problems with passport control. They told me I can’t go in, they looked at my passport, they ripped my passport and then they laughed at me,” he told interviewers.

Listen to Hovi Star’s “Made of Stars” here:

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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