Monday was disqualification day in Eurovision land. If you missed anything, here’s your round-up of who’s out (for now).
In Malta
The biggest news came from Malta, where Eurovision loving Aiden fell foul of bizarre Maltese national final rules by promoting his entry through social media. Quite why any broadcaster would object to a performer generating support for a potential Eurovision song remains a mystery – especially the Maltese delegation who tend to take an unhealthily competitive approach to the Contest, almost always at the expense of their chosen act.
An official statement from the Maltese organisers noted “Aidan breached points 5.3 and 5.5 of MESC’s regulations, which prohibit ‘the publication of any social media posts, promotion material, interviews or any media presence from the announcement of the quarter-finalists onwards’.”
It’s like they already made up their minds which act to send and needed to weed out competition – which, let’s face it is thin on the ground this year for the Maltese national final.
In Denmark
Danish media reported that Reiley, one of the eight shortlisted for thus year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, was at risk of disqualification. On Instagram, Reiley revealed that “Breaking My Heart”, had been performed live at the Slow Life Slow Live festival in Seoul, South Korea, last autumn. DR rules state that any competing song must not have been performed or released publicly prior to the contest without their permission.
After three tense hours for the angelic young ‘un – as DR debated whether his performance gave the song a competitive advantage – news broke that he was clear to take part. Sympathy votes all round.
And finally … Moldova
It’s almost time for the full-on fun of live auditions, but we’ll be two acts short on Saturday as Massimo Sinceri and DA-MUSE and NÖRDIKA were ruled out for rule breaking.
Massimo Sinceri and DA-MUSE broke Etapa Naţională rules that state that at least 50% of the singers in a group must hold Moldovan citizenship. Whereas NÖRDIKA ‘fessed up that “Squeeze Paradise” was first published online on February 8, 2012 – a full TEN YEARS before the cut-off date set in the rule book.
This won’t be the last Moldovan disqualification, for sure.