Croatia’s Nina Badric found herself at the center of a maelstrom on Thursday evening just hours before the second semi-final at Eurovision. According to Jutarnji, the second-biggest daily newspaper in Croatia, reports coming out of Serbia alleged that one of Nina’s back-up dancers had been caught stealing paintings from the Hilton Hotel Baku. Serbian media claimed the singer removed the artwork from the walls and placed them in her suitcase. The Croatian delegation deny that they’ve been accused of anything (other than incredibly poor staging at Eurovision).
It’s not the first time Nina’s posse have had to fend of criticism in Baku—and we’re even not talking about the tacky white sheet she unfurled during her performance. Serbian sources previously claimed that the Croatian delegation has stumbled back to their hotel rooms extremely late at night, disturbing other delegations by banging on doors with the Croatian flag. Aleksandar Kostadinov, the head of the Croatian delegation, told Jutarnji it’s all non-sense. “Our girls are great girls who stay awake longer, because the night is long here,” he said. “We are three hours ahead of Croatian time, and as rehearsals begin at midnight, we can not get to sleep until four o’clock in the morning.”
The team at WiwiBloggs.Com did some research and it turns out that the Serbian delegation and the Croatian delegation are both staying at the Hilton. It’s rather telling that news of the alleged theft came from Serbian media outlets. Does someone on Zeljko Joksimovic’s team have a bone to pick with Nina’s back-up singer? Perhaps she cut in line at the breakfast buffet, or borrowed one of the Serbians’ wooden flutes? In any event, now that Nina has been eliminated from the finals we hope the painting—and the back-up singer—have returned safely to their respective homes.
