Ukrainian censorship of winning Eurovision singer

This 8 February 2019 music video from Ukraine is called MARUV – Siren Song (Lyric video) Eurovision 2019.

Well … Eurovision Song Contest 2019 … Ms Maruv did win the Ukrainian competition, so she was supposed to go to the international final in Tel Aviv.

However, then far-right Ukrainian ruling politicians intervened.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Ukraine must look for a new artist for the Eurovision Song Contest. The [Ukrainian] public broadcaster has withdrawn 27-year-old Maruv as their candidate after a fuss about her performances in Russia.

Immediately after her victory at the national qualifying round last weekend, several politicians said they did not want Maruv to represent Ukraine. As the singer sings regularly on Russian stages. Those performances are controversial …

A commenter at Maruv’s YouTube video mentions that meanwhile, to Ukraine’s far-right warmongering billionaire oligarch president Poroshenko, the profits of his own businesses in Russia are not controversial at all; contrary to Maruv’s singing.

The singer and the public broadcaster sat around the table yesterday to come to a solution. Maruv offered to cancel her shows in Russia in the coming months. But that was not enough for the broadcasting authority, whom she accused of censorship.

“I am a Ukrainian citizen, who pays taxes here and I love Ukraine with all my heart”, she writes on Facebook.

One should hope that Facebook will not censor her now as well.

“But I refuse to parrot slogans and use my participation for the honour and glory of our politicians. I am a musician, not an instrument in the political arena.”

Patriot

The broadcaster states that the Eurovision participant is a cultural ambassador for the country and that the opinion of the Ukrainian people

Especially the opinion of rich oligarchic people like Poroshenko

must be propagated. The Ministry of Culture takes that even further and says that “only patriots who are aware of their responsibility” should be allowed to participate in the song competition as long as “thousands of heroes die for the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Hey President Poroshenko and Poroshenko Ministry of Culture: if you have a few seconds time to listen in between your censoring of the internet and counting your profits from military weapons production and from tax dodging in Panama: then I will tell you that you might inspire far-right politicians in other European countries with your censorship.

Eg, ABBA won the Eurovision song contest with Waterloo. But they oppose the Danish extreme right abusing their music. And they are not members of the Swedish neofascist party ‘Swedish Democrats‘, as far as I know. So, not patriots at all according to extreme right standards. ABBA should give their Eurovision trophy back immediately.

Dutch Eurovision contest singers have sometimes been of African or Asian ancestry. Dutch racists don’t like that. How can they ever be real right-wing Dutch patriots? That kind of singers should be banned forever. Etc. [Sarcasm off]