JERUSALEM (JTA) — “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot turned down an offer to host the Eurovision Song Contest next year in her native Israel.
Her agency said a scheduling conflict forced Gadot to turn down the invitation to host by Israel’s Kan network, Ynet reported.
“Gal would be happy to host and take part in the Eurovision, but unfortunately, schedule constraints and previous commitments do not permit it,” the ADD Content Agency said in a statement.
Gadot was a big supporter of the winner, Netta Barlizai, calling on her tens of thousands of social media followers to vote for the Israeli singer, and posting her congratulations when the contest ended. The country of the winning song hosts the contest the following year.
The sequel to Gadot’s breakout hit “Wonder Woman” is due to be released next year. Wonder Woman gets a shout-out in the winning song, “Toy.”
Minutes after “Toy” was announced as the winning song, Israeli officials and Barzilai herself said the contest would be held in Jerusalem. Several countries reportedly have already said they would boycott a Eurovision held in Jerusalem, while Irish activists have called to boycott the contest if it is held anywhere in Israel.
Eurovosion in a tweet warned followers of the official Eurovision Twitter account not to book flights to Israel “just yet” and instead “keep an eye out for announcements on our official channels,” leading to speculation of tension over the venue of the decades-old contest. Israel has won the contest four times and it’s been held twice in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, “Toy” has broken a Eurovision record by attracting the most views ever on the song competition’s YouTube channel, with over 58 million views. The video was most popular in Spain, Germany and Russia, which together made up 30 percent of all viewings, according to the official Eurovision website.
