Bulgaria cited financial difficulties as the reason for its absence, while Ukraine, which had originally planned to participate, ultimately withdrew as a result of a controversy surrounding its national selection.

[2][3] The lead-up to the contest was met with controversy on multiple fronts, primarily on issues surrounding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict – this eventually led to demonstrations by interval act performer Madonna and Icelandic entrants Hatari during the broadcast of the final.

The 2019 contest took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 edition with the song "Toy", performed by Netta.

[5][6] Located on Rokach Boulevard in northern Tel Aviv, the convention centre serves as a venue for many events, including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences.

[10] On 18 June 2018, Netanyahu stated that Israel had committed to remaining in compliance with EBU rules regarding the constitution of member broadcasters, so as not to affect its hosting of Eurovision.

[16][17] In the week of 27 August 2018, executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand led a handful of EBU delegates around Israel to look at potential venues in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and to hear the bid from Eilat.

The EuroClub was located at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv Port and was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants.

[23] The "Orange Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv on 12 May 2019, followed by the Opening Ceremony at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium.

[25][26] Tunisia is eligible to participate, but has not due to laws banning the promotion of Israeli content, while the Gulf states do not have national broadcasters with EBU membership.

[44] Despite confirming their preliminary participation in the 2019 contest, Bulgarian broadcaster BNT announced in October 2018 that they would withdraw because of financial difficulties and to allow members of the delegation to moving onto other projects.

[45][28] Due to the controversy surrounding its national selection, on 27 February 2019, Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC also announced the withdrawal of the country from the contest,[29] but aired the show nonetheless.

[70][71][72] Unlike in previous years, the green room was placed in a separate building to the main performance venue due to limited capacity.

[74] Filmed between March and April 2019, and directed by Keren Hochma, the 2019 postcards involved the act travelling to a location in Israel that resembles that of their own country.

[78] On 30 March 2019, the EBU announced that the presentation of the televoting results during the final would change for the first time since the current voting system was introduced in 2016.

[82] The thirty-six semi-finalists were divided over six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame.

[29] Australia won the most points, followed by the Czech Republic, Iceland, Estonia, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, San Marino, Cyprus and Belarus.

[86] The Netherlands won the most points, followed by North Macedonia, Sweden, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Russia, Norway, Malta, Albania and Denmark.

[98] Madonna's representatives at Live Nation were subject to a lawsuit by host broadcaster Kan in September 2019, four months after the contest ended.

[108] British newspaper Metro thought the EBU had "screwed up", while the Daily Mirror named the accidental reversal of the aggregated vote total a "scandalous blunder".

The live streams were geo-blocked to viewers in Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, United States and Venezuela due to rights limitations.

[114][115][116] On 14 May 2018, Yaakov Litzman, leader of the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism and Israel's former Minister of Health, drafted a letter to the Ministers of Tourism, Communications, and Culture and Sports, in which he requested the event not violate religious laws: "In the name of hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens from all the populations and communities for whom Shabbat observance is close to their hearts, I appeal to you, already at this early stage, before production and all the other details of the event has begun, to be strict [in ensuring] that this matter does not harm the holiness of Shabbat and to work in every way to prevent the desecration of Shabbat, God forbid, as the law and the status quo requires".

Similar protests arose in the lead-up to the 1999 Israeli-held contest, but then there were fewer competing delegations, which allowed for certain adjustments to be made to accommodate the issue.

The chairman of the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group (the contest's executive board), Frank-Dieter Freiling, noted that he was well aware of the tension, and had plans to address it in his communications with host broadcaster Kan.[209] Shalva Band, who performed as the interval act during the second semi-final, withdrew from Israel's national final citing similar concerns on possibly performing during Shabbat in the rehearsals for the final, should they have won.

[226] In March 2019, LGBT activist groups Al Qaws and Pinkwatching Israel called for a boycott of the contest in opposition to Israeli "pinkwashing".

[227] In late April, over 100 celebrities including Stephen Fry and Sharon Osbourne signed a joint statement against boycotting Eurovision in Israel, asserting that any cultural boycott would be antithetical to advancing peace in the region.

Following Maruv's win, it was reported the broadcaster had sent a contract to her management, requiring her to cancel all upcoming appearances and performances in Russia to represent Ukraine.

[232] National final runner-up Freedom Jazz announced on 26 February they had also rejected the broadcaster's offer to represent Ukraine as did third-place finisher Kazka the following day.

Neither Zelenková, the Czech broadcaster Česká televize (ČT) nor the EBU had confirmed that her semi-final votes were reversed, but if this were corrected, Poland would have qualified to the final instead of Belarus.

In the 2016 contest, Danish juror Hilda Heick ranked the entries backwards, resulting in Denmark awarding 12 points to Ukraine instead of Australia.

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.