It’s been a tumultuous few days for German Eurovision fans. After three years of relative disappointment, the country took an audacious move and internally selected R&B singer Xavier Naidoo. That was Thursday. By Friday full details of his controversial past emerged. And on Saturday he was axed. Now, it seems that all notions of an internal selection have been dropped. The land of Lena will have a national final after all.
Lutz Marmor, chairman of ARD and NDR director, confirmed that the public will decide who travels to Stockholm in May. On the Naidoo fiasco, he simply said “NDR had made a mistake”.
But all is not rosy. The fallout has resulted in tensions within ARD and NDR. MEEDIA reports that 40 NDR staff members had written a letter against Naidoo’s selection. Meanwhile ARD’s program director Volker Herres publicly distanced himself from the decision, stating that NDR acted alone.
ARD is a joint organisation of Germany’s regional public service broadcasters, of which NDR is a member. Since 1996, NDR has been responsible for the country’s Eurovision selection. The semi-finals are boradcast on the channel, with ARD airing the grand final.
What do y’all think? Are you happy that democracy prevails? Let us know below.
Related stories
- List: Germany’s 7 most dramatic Eurovision moments
- Country Profile: Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest since 2009
YES!! But this time change the voting so that the right act is sent. I don’t get why Fahrenheit didn’t win & represenr Germany. Black Smoke and Heart of Stone were great songs but lacked a lasting impression.
🙁
Me and my typos. That last paragraph should begin with “Come TO think of it…”
@Robyn: When they selected Xavier Naidoo, I suspected the dissolution of the Clubkonzert was in anticipation of that internal selection. With Naidoo gone, I thought there was the possibility that they’d be tempted to bring it back, if they brought back Unser Song. The last 2 Unser Songs featured 8 acts, each having brought with them 2 songs to perform. If it were up to me, I’d expand the field to 20, and let them bring one song each. Then let the public narrow the field to 10; and from there, hand it over to the public or use a… Read more »
@Daniel: If Fahrenhaidt tries again, they’ll be a front-runner. Methinks they ought to use the 2013 procedure to select a winner.
Crispi didn’t make the first cut in Switzerland. Maybe he can submit his song in Germany, no? >:-P
But if Madeline Juno enters, she’s my #1 pick, depending on the song she submits, if it’s anything like “Error”.
Well this was a bit obvious since they revealed that Xavier wasn’t their representative. But still good to hear. I am praying for Fahrenhaidt for 2016!! Frozen Silence was incredible!!
“40 NDR staff members had written a letter against Naidoo’s selection” and “ARD’s program director Volker Herres publicly distanced himself from the decision, stating that NDR acted alone”.
Still who were those that made the decision? Surely some responsibility should be.
QED. I’m pretty sure quite a few already have songs prepared AND recorded for this occasion. Second weekend in January (8th or 9th) is probably going to be the deadline for everyone else who has yet to go in the studio. Plenty of time left for them. Kill the Clubkonzert first. If they stick to the same format they have had with the last 3 Unser Song contests, invite 10 or 12 to perform 2 songs. If they decide that they want only one song per contender, invite 20 to 24, then narrow it down to 10, 11 or 12… Read more »
If only the BBC acted like this when they picked their horrible entries.
And anyway acts that wanted to enter Eurovision for Germany next year would have already finished their songs.
Since before last week everyone thought Germany was having a national selection anyway.
Lanti,
The German people actually were mostly complaining about Xavier going to Eurovision. There were Tweets like „Why should a represent a country that he doesn’t even consider as a real state?“, „They should’ve googled Xavier Naidoo before making the decision.“, „Even ignoring the fact about his controversial views, his music is just bad“ and „It’s pretty funny that ARD announced XN’s participation on #WorldToiletDay“.
Sure, one of the reasons why the Germans reacted as powerfully was that they didn’t even got to choose him, but they main reason was Xavier Naidoo himself.
Hopefully the winner… wants to go, this year-:))
I hope they will choose good song after all. 😀
All of this drama in Germany is crazy enough that it should have its own Eurovision reality show! “THE ONLY WAY IS DüSSELDORF” or “I’M A SINGER, GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
like i sadi i dont know why they dont do what they did with lena get people to right songs find a singer then you have you eurovision performer and a new star
Okay, just wondering:
Outside of German Twitter, people were mostly complaining about Xavier’s controversial beliefs/past actions. Were people in Germany more annoyed about NDR’s internal selection or or selecting Xavier?
Great irresponsibility of german tv.
Well yeah, if the Germans want to decide too, that would be the only option.
Bring on Sportsfreude Stiller and Die Prinzen. But please…no Helene Fishy Schlager!