The British Broadcasting Corporation BBC and other international broadcasters will not allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make a video message during the Eurovision music competition final. This is reported by the Times newspaper with reference to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The EBU representative said that Eurovision is first and foremost an entertainment show and one of its “cornerstones” is apoliticalism, and therefore political statements and other similar statements are excluded.
“A request by Zelenskyy to address the Eurovision Song Contest audience, with all good intentions, unfortunately cannot be accommodated,” the source said.
The newspaper recalled that this was not the first time that the Ukrainian leader was refused speeches at major international events: for example, in March, the organizers of the Oscar film prize refused Zelenskyy for the second time in a row, and in December the president was not allowed to speak before the starting whistle for the World Cup in Qatar.
The Eurovision 2023 final will take place on May 13 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Representatives from 26 countries will take part in the final, including the UK as the hosts of the competition, Ukraine as last year’s winners and representatives from the Big Four – Germany, Spain , Italy and France.
Earlier, the EBU decided to change the voting rules for Eurovision 2023 due to jury collusion in 2022.
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