After studying a new application from the pro-Lukashenka group Halasy ZMesta (Voices from Town), the organizers came to the conclusion that it also violates the rules of the contest.
This information appeared on the website of the singing contest.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has released a statement regarding Belarus’ 2021 Eurovision Song Contest entry:
“On Wednesday 10 March we wrote to the broadcaster BTRC, which is responsible for Belarus’ entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, to request that they take all steps necessary to amend their entry to this year’s event to ensure it is compliant with the rules of the competition.
Following this BTRC submitted a new song, by the same artists, within an agreed timeframe.
The EBU and the Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board, carefully scrutinized the new entry to assess its eligibility to compete.
It was concluded that the new submission was also in breach of the rules of the competition that ensure the Contest is not instrumentalized or brought into disrepute.
As BTRC have failed to submit an eligible entry within the extended deadline, regrettably, Belarus will not be participating in the 65th Eurovision Song Contest in May.”
On March 9, the Belarusian TV and Radio Company (BTRC) announced the results of the competition for this year’s Eurovision participant from Belarus: the band Halasy ZMesta (Voices from Town) was listed as the winner.
The YouTube channel of the band (with about 16 thousand subscribers) is decorated with the red and green colors of the national flag. Last year, Halasy ZMesta became famous after the songs, which made fun of the Belarusian protesters and opposition politicians. In particular, the song mentioned above contains the words ‘I will teach you to jig to the tune’, ‘I will teach you to toe the line.’
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 will take place in Rotterdam. The Dutch city was due to host the contest in 2020 before the event was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The semi finals will take place on 18 and 20 May 2021. The Grand Final takes place on 22 May 2021.
