Remember when the Netherlands said it was coming back to Eurovision? That lasted about a month.

On October 27, Dutch public broadcaster NPO announced that the Netherlands will not take part in Eurovision 2027 after all, reversing the comeback it had confirmed in September, Euronews reports. That makes two years in a row without a Dutch entry, and one more empty seat at a contest that a lot of queer fans plan their whole May around.

Here’s the quick version, then the details.

The 30-second recap

  • August 2026: Broadcaster AVROTROS, which usually runs the Dutch entry, said it would sit out 2027.
  • September 23: NPO, the umbrella body for Dutch public media, said the Netherlands would return anyway.
  • October 13: Around 400 public broadcasting employees signed a letter urging NPO to reverse that decision.
  • October 27: NPO reversed it.
  • May 15, 2027: The contest goes ahead in Burgas, Bulgaria, without the Netherlands.

What NPO actually said

NPO chair Jet de Ranitz put it this way, per PinkNews: “Due to the sensitivities surrounding the themes currently at play, we have decided to take a step back for the time being.”

She said broadcasters had initially seemed supportive of a comeback, but NPO couldn’t find a “suitable format” for taking part and concluded that “it is currently too early to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027.” Euronews reports that NPO couldn’t find a broadcaster willing to send a Dutch artist.

NPO media director Jurre Bosman was more direct about the reason. Israel’s participation “elicits various reactions in society and causes discussion and division,” he said, per PinkNews.

The good news for Dutch fans: NPO will still broadcast the contest, Euronews reports. So the watch parties are safe.

How we got here

The dispute is about Israel’s place in the contest during the war in Gaza.

In August, AVROTROS said Eurovision “can no longer be considered neutral” while “a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict” remains in it, The Irish News reported. Its director-general, Taco Zimmerman, said the contest had “become a platform for division.”

NPO then tried to keep the Netherlands in. In September it said talks with the European Broadcasting Union had led to changes meant to make the contest more unifying, NL Times reported. That decision met pushback from inside: the employees’ letter, titled #NotMyEurovision, said they “cannot accept that the desire to participate in an entertainment programme outweighs” the lives of people being killed, and objected that the decision was made without the broadcasters’ own management teams.

The EBU’s changes include barring any country involved in an armed conflict from hosting, plus changes to the voting, according to PinkNews. Critics, AVROTROS among them, said those measures don’t go far enough because such countries can still compete.

The organisers’ response

Eurovision director Martin Green told the BBC he was “deeply sorry” the Netherlands won’t take part. “We understand their decision, and we respect the strength of feeling behind it,” he said, as quoted by PinkNews. He added that organisers believe the contest “matters in a divided world.”

Who’s in, who’s out for 2027

The map is getting patchy:

  • Out: the Netherlands; Ireland, which confirmed on September 17 it won’t return; and Czechia, which pulled out on October 6 citing “financial pressures,” not politics. We covered the Czech exit here.
  • Wavering: the head of Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE has backed a continued boycott, Euronews reports.
  • New: Canada will compete for the first time, per PinkNews.

For context, five countries boycotted the 2026 contest in Vienna: Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia. That show drew 131 million viewers, down 35 million on the year before, Euronews says.

Why queer fans should care

Eurovision has never been “just a song contest” for a lot of LGBTQ+ people. It’s a night of camp, key changes and community, and a place where queer artists have been visible on a scale few other TV shows offer. That’s also why the arguments around it get so heated: people care.

It’s worth holding two things at once. Fans who boycott, and fans who still plan to watch, are often acting on the same values. Whichever you are, nobody needs to be shamed in the group chat.

There’s also a Balkan angle we’re watching. Burgas is on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, and the contest heads there after Dara won in Vienna with “Bangaranga.” If you’re thinking about going, our state of LGBTQ+ rights in Bulgaria explainer is a good place to start, and we looked at the 2026 flag rules in Vienna too.

What happens next

  • The Dutch artist announcement that NPO promised in September won’t happen now.
  • More broadcasters will confirm or decline in the coming months. We’ll keep track.
  • The Netherlands, which last won in 2019, will be watching from the sofa again. NPO’s own wording, “for the time being,” leaves the door open for 2028.