Serbian turbo-folk singer threatens RTS with Eurovision lawsuit

Aca Lucas

Serbian turbo-folk singer 53-year-old Aleksandar Vuksanović, better known by his stage name Aca Lukas is telling anyone who will listen (and given his reputation of late in Serbia, that’s not many) that he plans on suing RTS Serbia after he failed to win the recent national final – Pesma za Evroviziju 2022 – ending in fifth place with ‘Oskar’, after scoring a bit fat zero from the jury vote and just seven points from the public.

Washing legs

KonstraktaHis particular beef lies with the winning performer Konstrakta, who he claims is working for opposition political parties. “I could have gone on stage and washed my legs, but I chose instead to perform,” he is reported as saying. Konstrakta laughed off his suggestion and offered to wash his legs for him, if that’s what’s bugging him so.

In a series of rambling interviews, he went on to claim the Serbian winner is working against the church – this despite the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church praising the sentiments behind the song.

Marmite

Vuksanović is something of a marmite figure. The hard-drinking, hard-smoking singer has faced repeated charges of copying other people’s work. In 2003, he was arrested for illegal gun possession and suspected links with organised crime. In 2017 he was charged with domestic assault against his third wife.

In 2020, he was said to have sent death threats to TV talk show hosts Ivan Ivanović and Zoran Kesić. He was publicly denounced in November 2020 for insulting journalist Žaklina Tatalović in a sexist narrative during a live TV program.

Gay pride

Obviously the gays don’t miss out. He’s taken part in discussion shows where he claims to have attended pride parades in Sweden and Switzerland where he witnessed anal sex on the street – adding that he has no problem with “what they do behind closed doors, just so long as that’s where it stays.” Human rights organization ‘Da Se Zna!’ filed a complaint against Vuksanović for homophobic speech.

So anyway, back to where we started and his lawsuit against RTS. The broadcaster’s creative director Olivera Kovačević, is in turn suing Vuksanović in both her own name and on behalf of RTS, following rumours he spread about bribes and fixing the Eurovision show result.

Anyway, this bit of distracting nonsense is really just another excuse to play a fabulous Eurovision song …