What can Eurovision do to protect their artist's mental health?
Several artists from previous years have gone out and said that their mental health took a toll during the contest.
Social media has become a more hateful place over the years, and it is naive to think the artists will only get praise and support online. This year, the hate reached a peak.
Some of the artists this year have hinted to how difficult the Eurovision journey has been on their mental health, but I think we will hear more stories about it as time goes on. The organisers are not doing enough to protect them from the harassment that the artists receive online. On their private social media accounts, comment sections have been flooding while the EBU remains silent. The artists became the target, not only to people's opinions of their songs, but to people's opinion of the contest in general.
It is not normal for any human to be exposed to this much hate.
Even the less controversial acts this year were getting flooded with vile comments to an insane extent. They are stepping out of their regular, supportive fanbase to join us in Eurovision, and we can't expect them to tolerate this much hate.
The EBU needs to take more responsibility, stand up to their artists and protect their mental health during the competition. What can be done to protect the artists more? Should they be put in a locked room with no Internet access for a few weeks? (joking, but also not)