Following what can only be described as a tumultuous 24 hours for MARUV, a petition for the now-ousted former Ukrainian entrant for Eurovision 2019 has amassed over 8,000 signatures in its first day, with a goal of 10,000 signatures.
The petition – started by David Evoyan – is addressed to the European Broadcasting Union and the long-time executive supervisor of Eurovision, Jon Ola Sand. Titled “Provide MARUV with the opportunity to take part at Eurovision Song Contest 2019”, the petition has the following agenda:
MARUV was selected as Ukraine’s representative for Eurovision 2019 however the broadcasting company requested that MARUV must sign a contract stating she would cancel all her upcoming shows and appearances in Russia. MARUV revealed some details about the contract and the fans consider it to be more like a devil’s contract as it restricts the freedom of speech and movement of the singer.
You can read and sign the petition at Change.org by clicking here.
Within the first day of going live, the petition amassed over 8,000 signatures. But more signatures are no doubt needed to make an impact.
And while the petition argues MARUV’s reinstatement to the contest, it does not specifically suggest MARUV should be reinstated as Ukraine’s representative. MARUV, however, has stated she only has allegiance to Ukraine and Ukraine only, despite receiving offers from three other countries.
The news surrounding MARUV’s removal from the Eurovision Song Contest has hit international news outlets, covered by the BBC as well as Norwegian radio Channel P2, among others.
Why is MARUV no longer the Ukrainian representative for Eurovision 2019?
Earlier this week, MARUV criticised the contract that Ukrainian state broadcaster UA:PBC imposed upon her following her victory at Vidbir 2019 with “Siren song”. But after further discussions between MARUV and the broadcaster broke down, was confirmed that the singer will not be Ukraine’s representative for Eurovision 2019.
In an official statement on UA:PBC’s Eurovision website, the broadcaster states that they were unable to reach an agreement with MARUV on a number of points. This primarily focuses on the singer’s role as a “cultural ambassador” for the country:
“The performer, who will represent Ukraine on the international arena, also has a commitment: after signing the contract with [UA:PBC] for the time of the contest the performer becomes a cultural ambassador of Ukraine and reports not only their own music, but also becomes the spokesperson for the opinion of Ukrainian society in the world. After the negotiations, [UA:PBC] and the singer MARUV did not find a joint decision on the mission of the representative of Ukraine at the international song contest.”
Responding to the above on her social media, MARUV stated that she could not willingly participate in the competition whilst being used for any form of propaganda:
“A few hours before the draw I was asked to participate in the national preselection for “Eurovision-2019”. I agreed and won, and with great pride I was ready to represent my home country – Ukraine at the international song arena.
MARUV went on to tell her fans to not respond to the news with hate and confrontation:
“I sincerely thank and appreciate everyone who believed in me and voted. And I ask you to accept this fact and not to go to confrontation. This is the given of today. I want to give my creativity without censorship.
Tomorrow I will wake up with new forces – to win and popularize my music in the world.”
MARUV’s petition joins a growing list of petitions for Eurovision 2019. Following Bulgaria’s withdrawal from the contest in October last year, our friends at eurovision-bulgaria and from OGAE Bulgaria launched a petition urging BNT to reconsider the withdrawal. The petition, shared with the hashtag #TheyWillNeverBreakUsDown amassed over 18,000 signatures.
Other petitions called for individual country withdrawals from the contest for political and humanitarian reasons – including petitions and failed movements from Ireland and Iceland.
Are you upset that MARUV will not be representing Ukraine at Eurovision 2019? Did you sign the petition? Sound off in the comments below!
This whole thing is staged … a cheap soap opera !
“ESConspiracy!”
I think we cant deny that Jamala won, because of the political anti Russia climate at that time… What if….
This whole Ukraine dilemma now was faked. Maruv will participate in the end, maybe not even for Ukraine, but maybe Belarus or whoever. People will call for her, to show Ukraine what a mistake they have done, Ukraine wins, defeating Lazarev again, everybody thinks “oh we showed those stupid Ukranians what they missed out on”, Ukraine “wins” by defeating Russia, doesnt have to host next year in a poor economy and we have this Oscar worthy script.
Everything is possible )))
Oh please, how Ukraine wins if she participate for somebody else? Are you telling that they are so much triggered by Lazarev participation, lol
Besides, even if I personally like that song very much, I don’t think it’s contender for win, top 10 for sure, but not for the win, I think the juries will destroy its chances anyway.
No its not a winning song, thats exactly how a PR move like this is needed. Believe me, I have a few freinds from Ukraine and i think hate (towards russia) can be a very good motivator xD
Well, if this is in fact a conspiracy theory, then you know when they say “Sex Sells”, the next thing that sells after sex is controversy. So if this is true, she seems to have both here. That is provided that all runner-ups reject the offer to go in MARUV’s place and the broadcaster comes crying back to her saying that she can go now on her own terms, no contract needed, they’ll pay for everything and then some, etc. And it’s all contingent on how much waves this is making in international media besides a few ESC-related sites such… Read more »
Dear Wiwi,
On a similar note, maybe you can also write an article about the Romanian petition to get Laura Bretan to Eurovision. 11 000 signatures
and still counting. But of course you won’t publish any article on the topic, you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot. Power to the people you say? Maybe it’s time you get off your high horse and give up double standards.
https://secure.avaaz.org/ro/community_petitions/Throw_this_petition_we_ask_for_eurovision_Romania_to_do_a_revote__Eurovision_revote/
second this
The difference is that Ester won fair and square based on voting system implented for the NF, hence she’s the rightful representative of Romania, you can only blame voting system marginalizing public vote. MARUV on the other hand is a rightful representative of Ukraine, stripped of her right by politically charged broadcaster, so her situation is far different and actually requires attention. Go figure
Nobody cares about your petition. 2019 belongs to Ester. Laura can pray to God until next year, to give her a better song, with better lyrics.
Why in the finals did you test the patriotism of the artists? This is a song contest, and it’s incorrect. – For the four years that we conduct the National Selection for Eurovision, the STB team gets directly opposite comments on the same situation. When you do not ask the question – “why did not you ask?”, You ask – “Why are you asking this?”. Those who watch the National Selection from 2016 (when STV began to produce it) know that on this scene participants are asking all questions that the Ukrainian audience is concerned about. Even the most acute… Read more »
And now we want to provide answers to the main questions that we continue to receive. Who set the rules for conducting the national selection for Eurovision? – The rules for conducting the national selection for Eurovision are prescribed in the Agreement between the TV channel STB and NTU, and approved by the NTU. According to the rules, STB conducts a qualitative and transparent National Selection of the representative of Ukraine in partnership with the National Standards Board and at its own expense, while the Public Broadcasting Company, as a member of the EBU, controls the conduct of the National… Read more »
What are the criteria for selecting National Selection Participants?
– The main criterion is a song. High-quality author’s song without plagiarism. As well as the artist’s desire to represent Ukraine at the international song contest and compete for this right in the live broadcasts of the National Selection. The rules include, among other things, the following requirements for the song: it must be original, the timing is not more than 3 minutes, can be done in any language. Also, there can be no more than 6 participants of the collective or group on the stage.
How does the selection of artists live? – STB during the first stage of selection (non-ethereal) accepts artists from the application and checks the songs, but has no right to decide independently who exactly goes live. A few days after the completion of the first stage, we appoint a meeting, during which we provide NTU with the best sample of the announced songs. This list usually exceeds the required number. Colleagues review and approve those artists who are in the second stage (live broadcast of the National Selection). Also NTU approves the list of jury members. How was the MARUV… Read more »
Secondly, thanks to a new format for selection and a transparent voting procedure, in 2016, Jamala took part in it again. And with the patriotic song “1944” returned the Eurovision to Ukraine. The National Selection drew the attention of the international press and European fan societies, whose representatives have been attending the final selection in Kyiv for four consecutive years.
Over the past 4 years, National Selection has repeatedly received approval from experts and has been awarded with three professional awards “Teletriumph” and awards The Very Best Of Ukrainian Design.
For the STB TV channel, the National selection is a great pride. This is a complex and professional work of a large team, which was carried out very responsibly. For 4 years, the Public had no complaints to STB regarding the quality of the selection.
Signed the petition but i doubt it would change much…
I lost a lot of respect for Jamala with that whole Crimea fake interview thing, I hated ‘Siren Song’, but politics have no place in Eurovision and MARUV earned her place. Doubt anything will happen though.
They have great groups. But they send only female singers except last two years. It will be better for Ukraine to send something different than next female pop. Hope their new choice will be better.
STB (the commercial channel teaming up with UA:PBC) released a statement regarding the issue, answering a few questions we may have.
https://psv4.userapi.com/c848120/u6256527/docs/d9/c5f99a4e8ecb/Stb_ofitsiyny_Komentar_Schodo_Situatsiyi_Z_Natsvidborom_26_02_2019_ukr.docx
It’s in Ukrainian but online translations should work well
When I click it says the link is not found.
The situation surrounding the final of the National Selection and the non-signing of the agreement between MARUV and the UA:Public caused a lot of questions and manipulative statements at various levels towards the STB TV channel. We want to put all the dots on the “i” and exclude the false representations of the public and the media about how the National Selection for Eurovision takes place.
First, we must emphasize that 4 years of STB conducts National election in accordance with the Rules, approved by NTU. STB selects and broadcasts at its own expense. We have been supporting the winner of the National Selection for three years. This support, at the time, included the preparation of the number and other support during the trip and its participation in the competition.
During this time, the National Selection, without exaggeration, became the main event of the year, which attracted attention not only in Ukraine but also abroad. We created a mega-stage, which opens up new names, and on which professional Ukrainian performers can present themselves throughout Europe. Today, artists, on the stage of the National Selection, receive much more than a few years ago.
Sorry wiwibloggs blocks the rest. Will try to update the link
people don’t have any power, those 8.000 signatures don’t mean anything
Maruv won’t participate in this years eurovision contest, Ukraine would rather withdraw than give in to the people
I saw comments somewhere that her vocals were thin/weak. As for the mythology, sirens didn’t have powerful, Jennifer Hudson like vocals. Their aim was to draw people in. And I think that’s what Maruv is doing. No matter how you feel about the song or her performance, you feel glued to the screen /speaker at least for a moment.
Finally someone who gets it. She has a voice, she just wanted to murmur this song for seductive purposes. No siren will bark at you to come close lol
If Maruv gets the chance to perform, EBU should also give this chance to Romanian Ovidiu Anton who was pulled out of the contest just few weeks to go because of romanian broadcaster‘s debts.
Can someone explain to me how EBU can allow this politicalisation of the Ukranian selection..?
Countries are technically free to select their artists however they want. If a country wanted to host a national final comprised of obstacle courses and eating challenges, they would technically be free to do that. The EBU may be able to do something in this specific case since Eurovision’s name and logo were all over a show that turned into political theater, but I’m doubtful. Hopefully the EBU learns from this experience and introduces rules regarding contractual obligations and the politicization of national selections.
No thanks I won’t be signing! It was a trash show and the song was not so special anyway.
Ur not so special too Julie babe.
You are a faker! Polegend has another profile pic, which stays the same due to the email address used. You are not Polegend, sorry “babe”…
She can be anyone she wants to be.
Ooo a petition, how cute!! So obviously Maruv will defenitely come back..Everyone will vote for her mostly to piss UA:PBC off and guess what, they both represent Ukraine .. so who is gonna lose here? Sergey’s Russia for the second time and this is a dream come true for UA:PBC because there is only one thing they have been doing the last couple of years and sadly it is not music but a disgusting political show and drama… Ukraine and Russia and their representatives ( including Maruv and Sergey) can f* off and not come back for some time.. Your… Read more »
Why all this fuss about Marouv? I mean what the broadcaster did is awful but it was also her choice not to sign the contract. I find her song and performance dated and overrated, she can barely sing. Nothing special to me for all this drama.
did you read the contract? It is awful, you basically lose your free speech and have to publicly say only what Ukraine politicians approve. meaning she would have to talk negatively about Russia even if she wouldn’t want to do that. She would become a marionette. Would you sign such contract?
Useless petition. Just get over it and don’t vote for Ukraine in May.
Deban and William .. Romania did a petition for Laura Bretan too , the girl for wich you voted so low in our national selection .. . why didnt you posted that one too . ? are you so offended that she does not support the LGBT comunity ? Or maybe you were paid by other countries to take away Romania chance of winning ?
Romania is one of the poorest countries in Europe. How were you going to host Eurovision 2020 may ask??? They helped you and you don’t even understand it.
You are bluffing. Of course Romania has all that it needs, is just that Laura can’t win. Pop Opera has no chance in ESC, we have tried in 2008 and 2013.
yes we tried in 2008 and 2013 . but with some bad songs ,that were not voted by the public..
italy 2015 n estonia 2018 are the proof that opera does well so
Neither of those songs are opera. It’s just that the singers have operatic voices. In fact those kinds of pop and opera mixes are the worst nightmare of opera fans lol. F.e. this year’s Australian entry can easily be called a joke entry by any music expert.
really are we talking of powerty ? is serbia richer than Romania ? and man .. Eurovision has a lot of sponsors.. its not about the winning country . and there are money . .. wrong used but money there always are.. its sad that you think so bad about Romania.. well thats why we are low ranked by the juries every year
Don’t feed the troll. Is obviously bluffing.
lmao romania can afford to host easily
you know nothing about Romania. if you hear stories about gipsies ,thieves ecc.. yeah we have them but that doent mean that as a country we dont have money .. the real theives are the politicians that dont have the interest for our country to grow in economy …
Polegend Godgarina said nothing bad about Romania. And Romania has many decent roma/gypsies, don’t be so defensive.
Polegend Godgarina said nothing bad about Romania. And Romania has many decent r_oma/gy_psi_es, don’t be so defensive.
sorry , my mistake.. well i dont like how our country is skipped every year.. and people not having interest in a song just because of a country ..
Everybody is Romanian, just for having Romanian citizenship. Period. If we start searching for DNA, well…I bet most of us are slavic. Just saying. Citizenship is all that matters.
They don’t believe in freedom of speech and thinking.”War is peace.Freedom is slavery.Ignorance is strength.?” George Orvel, 1984. They think we are bunch of sheep who think that ignorance is strength.
I’m Romanian and I’m so tired of that Laura Bretan, a disney princess singing the most boring song. She is not ready for Eurovision.
parerile sunt diferite. conteaza doar ca era favorita””’ frate si era vazuta ca posibil castigator .. . personal nici mie nu imi placea, dar parerea strainilor conteaza. . si cei de la wiwiblogs au clasato ca, castigator ..
English here!
There is no secret, I’ve just said that Laura was not ready this year, Ester had the whole package, while Laura looked like a 12 years old girl in her disney-princess dress. Voice is not everything, but sometimes the audience is impressed only by the voice. Focus on the whole package, this is what I believe works for ESC.
just said that Laura wass everyone favorite.. and it would’ve had more chances for the troffy in May iven Deban and William saw her has a winner.. . chek this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgEqj0z264
Ester a meritat sa castige, ea are tot pachetul, cantec+coregrafie+versuri. Uneori publicul greseste, si este impresionat doar de voce. Laura trebuie sa revina anul viitor, cu un cantec mai bun, si cu o rochie mai moderna, nu o rochie de printesa care o face sa para de 12 ani. Anul acesta publicul a gresit, asta este convingerea mea, si ma bucur ca Ester va fi la Eurovision.
And this petition has more signatures than the Maruv one so far. And yes strange that no article about the drama in Romania NF has been written since.
one more reason to think that Romania doesnt count in Euerovision .. . .
In any other European country, Laura and her super-religious family, would have no chance. Last evening she was in a super religious show, and she was asked if she forgave those who did her wrong (what?), and after 10 seconds, she said “Yes”. Can we all just forget about this freak?
la ce show a fost?
Even if Maruv performs as interval act it would still leave Ukranians with feeling that they are let out and robbed from victory. Also is that fair to other countries who compete and to the host with messing up their plans? It could turn contraversial and just add salt to injury towards Ukranian broadcaster.
Off-topic: Wiwibloggs I love you, but you really have to be more careful with your editing policy of deleting some comments…. I fully support when you delete offensive and foul language. But have been complaining a lot that you delete comments that inoffensive and only expressing a point of view. This is not correct.
This comment is fully supported here. I am considering leaving this platform, at present.
Aw. The comment sections without Purple? Noooo. I am a follower here for roundabout 9 months now, and you have become a part of “my community” – or the otherway round I became a part of your community with Colin etc… So don’t leave! 🙁 Your comments are highly appreciated by us!
Which are the three other countries that offered her to be their representative?
Belarus, Moldova and some other country
Georgia
where did you guys hear this?
its not true , georgia choose its reprsentative via georgian idol , final on 3th march
it was Azerbaijan.
She’s obviously lying. All the countries revealed their plans for ESC 2019 except Ireland and they are not so desperate to contact her for Eurovision.
Belarus and Moldova could easily cancel their NF and we know nothing about who will represent Azerbaijan so they also could change their plans in the last minute.
Azerbaijani representative will be one of these: Chingiz Mustafayev, Samira Efendi, Leman Dadashova and Tofig Hajiyev. That’s the official list given by Azerbaijani broadcaster. They have already chosen one of them anyway and the song’s ready. They will present it between 7-10 March.
Seriously? She decided to not sign a contract by herself because her shows are more important for her than her country and Eurovision. And then you post this petition (which is useless by itself).
Maybe journalism is something about more balanced opinions? Or maybe post petition to ask russians to stop war against Ukraine, or at least ask Maruv to not perform in Russia for 3 months (as it needed by the contract)?
Have you read the other parts of the contract? If cancelling her shows had been the only requirement, I’m sure she would’ve done it. But the rest of the contract was horrible in a human rights point of view. The broadcaster would do nothing for her (she would have to cover all costs of her eurovision participation herself) but in return required her to do what ever they said, or else she would have to pay them 2 million UAH and would have to withdraw from the competition. The contract also limited her freedom of speech, and that’s just unacceptable.… Read more »
Yes, she made it pretty clear that the reason why she backed out of a contract is due to the fact that it effectively would have turned her into the TV network’s slave. She did gamble with losing money from cancellation of Russian concerts and investing her own money into ESC appearances, but since she is trying to break into international markets and perform beyond Ukraine/Russia, that was a gamble worth making as ESC would have given her the much needed exposure to Europe and perhaps the rest of the world. But what was unacceptable to her was being a… Read more »
Conditions like not allowed to talk to press, not have freedom of choice of staging her performance, be fined 65000e for only one mistake of breach of contract, to cover all her cost etc are tyranny and were not asked any previous Ukranian winner before. They were made with goal that she would not be able to accept it. Also EBU warned all countries that any politization will not be tolerated so Ukranian broadcaster and juries knew that they are breaking rules talking about Russia but they didn’t give it fuck. They used final for political points.
Off-topic: Wiwibloggs is constantly deleting one simple and harmless question in the comment section of the article on Saara Aalto, which is not offensive nor contains inapropriate language. Can you stop that, please?
It is the power of justice!
I think that in effect signing the petition is useless to bring MARUV back as representative for Ukraine or for some other country, but it is very useful to put pressure on the Ukrainian broadcaster to stop their disrespectful behaviour they have had for the artists, whom they themselves allowed to compete in the national final.
Yes, I think that is the purpose of this petition. If Ukrainian government wanted to control whom they send to ESC, they should have just implemented internal selection just like Russia does (and no one there questions it). But if you hold a “democratic” contest to select who will represent you at ESC, then follow through, let the winner go to ESC to perform and support them in any way possible. Seems like in this case they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. I am not even sure what they were trying to accomplish by making her… Read more »
LOL come on guys these petitions never helped anyone. Ukrainian broadcaster obviously doesn’t trust her as their representative and EBU can’t do anything about it. They can’t just invite her to perform in Tel Aviv. That would be very disrespectful toward its member broadcaster. EBU cannot intervene on any country’s choice regarding Eurovision. Basically you can even send a video of Serhat buying SMRTV to EBU, they still can’t do anything about it. EBU already said that “Each participating broadcaster is responsible for the selection of their participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in accordance to the rules set out… Read more »
Ugh. This petition is useless. What are they gonna do? Have her represent herself as the 43rd country? Face it, the EBU doesn’t care about this shameful story.
Ukraine is EBU spoiled baby, they could get away with anything obviously. At least what I can do is to not vote for Ukraine this year.
I was 3rd person who signed this petition 😀 Now it’s about 8,000 oh WOW 😮
Petition to EBU didn t help Ovidiu Anton from Romania 2016.
#TeamMaruv!
Maruv has a great song and perfomance that especially this year the contest needs but NOT with this broadcaster. UA PBC must not participate this year and Belarus or Moldova should send her. Imagine how this girl feels now…. Humiliated on stage by Jamala, winning people’s vote and then she had to sing a contract putting in danger her Carrer and freedom. It’s a shame
#JusticeForMaruv . Dear Maruv , you have my big support.
By all means, get her to Eurovision. But not with that broadcaster.
Honestly we need also changes in government that will not press and influence broadcaster decisions. Luckily elections are this year… Ukrainians have chosen Maruv so our votes cannot be just sinked!