And more countries introduce guidelines to help contain the coronavirus, Lithuania’s Eurovision 2020 act The Roop have confirmed they won’t be travelling to The Netherlands for the planned postcard shoot. The band is also pulling out of the London and Amsterdam pre-parties.
The decision follows advice from the Lithuanian government, who has advised its citizens to avoid any unnecessary travel outside the country.
This means The Roop won’t be travelling to The Netherlands to film their postcard for Eurovision 2020. It also means they won’t be heading to London for the London Eurovision Party or to The Netherlands for Eurovision in Concert.
The Roop frontman Vaidotas Valiukevičius explained the band’s decision, saying “We don’t want to risk neither our own, nor public health. We are complying with the recommendations of the government to avoid trips abroad. We believe that precaution is the main measure which will allow us to come back to our casual living quicker.”
But the group are staying focused on their Eurovision 2020 entry “On Fire”. They’ll use the time to work on their performance for Rotterdam, with the hope that by May the situation will have improved and they will be able to make their scheduled appearance in the song contest.
Lithuania’s Head of Delegation Audrius Giržadas regretted the decision was necessary but supported the band. “We are very sorry to have to postpone this long-planned trip, however, such decision in this case is the only reasonable move. Fighting the coronavirus pandemic, we must act responsibly and avoid risks and travelling abroad as much as we can.”
The group’s guitarist Mantas Banišauskas was looking on the bright side, saying, “At this point, the world must be extremely united. Now is not the time for fighting or racing, but the time for unity. We can’t wait until we can meet everyone and wish that the only virus spreading around the world would be the “On Fire” dance virus.”
The Roop is the second Eurovision 2020 act who won’t be travelling to The Netherlands for their Eurovision postcard shoot. Earlier this week, Israel’s Eden Alene confirmed she also wouldn’t be flying to the Netherlands.
Jeangu Macrooy cancels upcoming shows
The Dutch Eurovision 2020 act has also been affected by coronavirus precautions. Jeangu Macrooy confirmed today that he was having to cancel the first five show of his upcoming theatre tour, all scheduled for later in March.
This follows today’s announcement from the Dutch government that events with over 100 people would be banned until the end of the month.
Jeangu’s shows in Utrecht, Ede, Nijverdal and Amsterdam have been cancelled.
In his announcement on Instagram, Jeangu explained, “I have been looking forward to these performances for months and I am very sorry that we have to cancel them. Unfortunately, there is nothing else at the moment; health in the first place! Hopefully we can let you know as soon as possible when these five shows can continue.”
I don’t think the pre-parties will take place anyway. Many countries are cancelling all possible events right now and the measures will likely become even stricter soon. We would be lucky to have Eurovision in May, I wouldn’t hope for pre-parties. It’s sad but it’s a good decision to cancel them.
Looks like Eurovision will be cancelled this year..
UNO will be their actual position in the contest! ??
If they place DOS or CUATRO that will make me happy too.
Pre-parties are the least worrying thing at the minute. They only affect a few thousand people, just hope the EBU find a way.
While they cancel their appearance in pre-parties, why don’t the pre-parties themselves get canceled? Everybody is concerned whether the main event would go on, but the pre-parties are much earlier, and decisions need to be made now if they are canceled. Fans and artists are not able to go anyway.
Health comes first indeed.
Stay safe y’all!
Btw, they’re showing “crown gesture” during their performance. I wonder if someone will connect it to virus xd I mean, people have some dumb ideas.
We also had a lot of crowns last year too. Likely people will connect it to that as well and scream “Conspiracy!”.
It’s not a crown, it’s fire. They are on fire.
Realistically, this is going to get worse before it gets better. I don’t know who is making the decisions at the EBU, but my guess is they will wait until early April and make the decision then. Any level of uncertainty which still exists at that point and the contest as we know and love it will be a goner. But we have to think about what’s best for the overall population, not just our personal preferences.
Yes safety always first! Bravo, really good example!
I would expect more cancellations.
If Europeans governments would have take the right measures since mid-january knowing what was happening in China we wouldn’t be in that situation 🙁
That’s because most leaders did not believe Coronavirus will become a worldwide problem. I remember the days when Lithuania announced strict preventive measures and later on declared a state of emergency. It was during the first days of virus outbreak in Italy and many people were laughing at our government for being ridiculous. Well, who’s to laugh last? We have luckily only 3 cases confirmed when most of Europe is fighting by dozens if not thousands of new cases daily. Even our Baltic family – Latvia and Estonia – is having a hard time. So stay clean, strengthen immunity via… Read more »
You think? I got attacked for saying how horrible it could be. People downvoted me because I told them to be prepared for the disease. If the average Europeans thought it would be hella fine for them, the negligence from the governments is expected.
In the name of all postcards cast & crew’s health, this year postcards shouldn’t be filmed. They could have another format: animations, historic footage of each country’s participation in Eurovision, whatever!!!
I’m really scared when I look at the situation in here in Czech Republic, at the moment Ben even isn’t able to travel to the Netherands because we can’t travel to 13 European countries including Netherlands for at least 30 days because there is a state of emergency 🙁
Same in Slovakia our borders are close, with exception of polish borders …
I am sooo sorry for saying this, but I think it’s unrealistic that Eurovision will be held in may.. Its just not possible anymore.
Public health should be first and foremost!! I love Eurovision as much the next guy, but it seems more and more likely something will be done about the contest. I don’t think they should cancel it, but perhaps holding it via satellite, not having an audience, or moving it back farther may be the safest option for everyone involved.
I seriously have no idea how the EBU is going to handle this situation.
Holding it with no audience wouldn’t be a good choice because there are still a lot of delegation members and artists.
Postponing would result in management and financial crisis.
Cancelling would put a lot of countries into debts especially likes of Bulgaria and Ukraine
I seriously have no idea how the EBU is going to handle this situation.
Holding it with no audience wouldn’t be a good choice because there are still a lot of delegation members and artists.
Postponing would result in management and financial crisis.
Cancelling would put a lot of broadcasters into huge debts especially likes of Bulgaria and Ukraine.
Especially Bulgaria, who just got out of a financial rut that caused them to drop out last year. I doubt they’ll call the contest off entirely. It would put too much financial strain on everyone involved. There are a few things I think the EBU could do: 1. Postpone it (but like you said, that would be hell financially and it would be harder to schedule around it) 2. Leave it as it is (pretty unlikely at this point) 3. Have it with no audience 4. Have it with a limited audience. Someone on the ESC Reddit suggested that they… Read more »
I seriously have no idea how the EBU is going to handle this situation.
Holding it with no audience wouldn’t be a good choice because there are still a lot of delegation members and artists.
Postponing would result in management and financial crisis.
Cancelling would put a lot of broadcasters into huge debts especially likes of Bulgaria and Ukraine.
God, I’m getting really, seriously scared now. Like, I’ll be surprised if the actual contest gets held the way it’s planned with the way things are going all over Europe.
Let’s contain this quickly, so the actual event won’t be jeopardized