Eurovizijos Atranka 2019: Sasha Song fined by producers for leaving the show at the last minute

It seems like this year’s Eurovizijos Atranka is more dramatic than ever with new artists being added and then some getting disqualified and still others quitting the competition. But it doesn‘t stop there, as the show’s organizers decided to slap Sasha Song with a two thousand euro fine.

“Our lawyers already started the process,” Audrius Giržadas, the head of delegation and producer of Eurovizijos Atranka said.

“We haven’t yet sent the request formally, but it will be done soon. We couldn’t get in touch with the singer the day of the filming the heat or the day after. He just wrote a message the day before the heat that he won’t be performing and the next day he did not answer the phone.”

Because similar situations have already occurred in the preselection, Giržadas and his team decided not to tolerate the behaviour and are following through with the rules of the project.

According to the official Eurovizijos Atranka rules:

“If the Performer fails to appear at the specified time for the rehearsals, recordings or broadcasts of the selective heats and finals of the competition, and does not provide an important cause (illness, loss of a loved one, etc.), LRT shall have the right to remove the performer from the competition and to impose a fine of 2,000 euros.”

“This is how Ruslanas Kirilkinas acted consistently and Erica Jennings made a statement last year and left the show. Now we have decided to not tolerate this kind of behaviour anymore. It has been written for a long time in the rules that we can take this kind of action, but we looked at it more forgivingly as much as possible. Sasha Song will be asked for 2,000 euros — this is not the place for negotiations.”

In 2009 Sasha represented Lithuania at the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow where he placed 23rd in the grand final and was the only Lithuanian performer in Eurovision Song Contest history to win a special prize for best Eurovision performance by the “OGAE Rest of The World”.

In 2017 Sasha Song once again tried his luck in the preselection where he reached the semi final with his song “Never Felt Like This Before”.

Sasha Song’s reason for leaving the show was not getting the right arrangement of the song from his producer at the agreed time. According to the singer, he did not want to give only an average performance, so he had to leave. However, because the journalist won’t pick up his phone, he can’t be contacted for his comments on the situation.