[AdSense-B] Israel’s Sport and Culture Minister Miri Regev wrote to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) today asking that they reconsider the rehearsal time line before the Grand Final, so that Israel’s potential contestants could both participate in and observe Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, at the same time. Per EBU rules, the final rehearsal before the Grand Final must …
[AdSense-B] According to an interview with La Parisien this morning, Bilal Hassani’s attorney Étienne Deshoulières filed a suit on the Destination Eurovision winner’s behalf this morning for “insults, incitement to hatred and violence and homophobic threats.” The 19-year-old Parisian singer of Moroccan heritage is, unfortunately, no stranger to negative and hateful comments regarding his sexuality, appearance and Islamic family before, though Deshoulières …
[AdSense-B] With the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Eurovision: You Decide coming on February 8, 2019, over 50 prominent British performers, composers and writers wrote an open letter in The Guardian to call on the BBC to press the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to relocate Eurovision 2019 from Israel. These artists, including former Genesis frontman and solo artist Peter Gabriel, film …
[AdSense-B] Some controversy appears to have surfaced overnight with regards to the Italian broadcast of last night’s second semi-final of Eurovision 2018, as the commentators of RAI 4 in Italy, Saverio Raimondo and Carolina di Domenico implored viewers to boycott voting for San Marino due to the fact their jury gave 0 to Francesco Gabbani’s entry in 2017. The full …
[AdSense-B] Some breaking news to bring to #YOU from Portugal – the hot favourite to represent Portugal in Lisbon, Diogo Piçarra, has withdrawn from Festival da Canção. The singer had been embroiled in a scandal involving his entry “Canção do fim” which had been noted to feature heavy similarities to another Portuguese song, “Abre os meus olhos”. The singer, who …
Belarus’ selection has taken a dramatic twist today, after an open letter signed by seven of the participants in the selection has ultimately seen one of the participants withdraw their entry! [AdSense-B] The controversy surrounds Alekseev, whose entry “Forever” fails the EBU rule regarding the performance or release of songs before 1st September 2017. Regardless of this, the public broadcaster …
[AdSense-B] While everyone is all too aware of the issues that have arisen in the past week regarding Russia’s artist Yulia Samoylova and the Ukrainian authorities banning her from entering the country, it seems that today has thrown up a major development in the story, with the potential of sanctions or a ban from the contest arising for any countries …
[AdSense-B] Two of the participating broadcasters in this year’s contest have spoken out to condemn the approaches of both Russia and Ukraine regarding the Yulia Samoylova banning situation. Denmark’s DR has spoken out against the “political battleground” developing in the east, with Jan Lagermand Lundme, the head of entertainment, stating “It is practically unbearable. I know that the EBU takes …
