It’s the central European nation that qualified for the Eurovision grand final on eight consecutive occasions between 2011 and 2018.
However, Joci Pápai’s failure to qualify with “Az én apám” in 2019 has sent Hungary’s Eurovision future into a tailspin.
Will Hungary withdraw from Eurovision 2020?
The signs have appeared bleak ever since broadcaster MTVA launched the annual A Dal music show and confirmed that its ties with Eurovision will be severed. Nonetheless, hope remained that an alternative selection method could be in the offing.
A blow arrived on Tuesday when esctoday.com published the following statement from MTVA.
Instead of taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, we will support the valuable productions created by the talents of Hungarian pop music directly.
Duna Television will support the winner of A Dal 2020 with numerous promotional opportunities and a chance to perform on the stages of the most prestigious Hungarian festivals.
Additionally, the winner will be rewarded with a special promotion on Petőfi Radio and will receive support for the development of their music career.
This was identical to the press release MTVA previously released on Friday 25 October.
In a bid to get more clarity, wiwibloggs reached out to our contacts in the MTVA press office. Alas, they could not elaborate and only offered the same response.
Will Hungary be at Eurovision 2020?
Many have read the release and interpreted it as an official withdrawal. However, there are shades of grey.
Where in the chain of command is the statement coming from? If it’s coming from the top levels of MTVA, then indeed it reads as a withdrawal.
On the other hand, could the “we” simply relate to DUNA Television. The channel behind A Dal has been a long-time broadcaster of Eurovision. However, it is just one of several networks within the overall MTVA group. Could there be a chance that the contest will stay within MTVA but just switch channel?
We should know definitively soon enough. The initial deadline for participation at Eurovision 2020 has passed but broadcasters were able to withdraw without penalty until mid-October. The EBU is expected to release the full list of confirmed acts in early November.
How do you see it? Is Hungary out? Or is there still a chance it’ll be present in Rotterdam? Let us know in the comments.
Follow all of our Hungary Eurovision 2020 news.
i dont know if this is a broadcaster who acts like a child that never wants to loose, or its a political movement, same case with Turkey. I really dont know
I think many people wanna be oblivious to a political motivation of a Hungarian withdraw (as some people want to keep away politics from the contest as it was intended) from ESC, but the signals are there and also the testimonies from the Hungarian eurofans. Remember the last Hungary article about the Awards show with Magdi Rusza or Joci Papai being “approved by the Government” and how that’s why you will never see artists like Andreas Kallay or yesyes because they have been critical of the Fidesz government. The Hungarian fans said it, it’s all there. You have a PM… Read more »
You do realize Joci Pápai is a Hungarian Rom, right? Not exactly what comes to mind when you think of “white societies”. The Roma are one of the most discriminated against groups in Hungary. And he got to represent and fly the flag for Hungary at Eurovision not once, but twice.
That’s how you win the vote of the Hungarian roms. They are the biggest vote base for Fidesz next to the eldelry 🙂 Just think about it, it all makes sense
Yes, I know that Joci Papai isn’t exactly what Orban or Fidesz have in mind when talking about “white Christian societies” but honestly it all seems like a case of tokening. Fidesz’s former associates like Jobbik and other far-right parties in Hungary have been constantly in odds with the Roma people, just in line with the rise of far-right and ultranationalist movements around Europe. So the government (through the broadcaster) on one hand is sending a Roma person to Eurovision but on the other hand does nothing to prevent violence and discrimination against the community by those far-right groups.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-extremists/tension-flares-between-roma-extremists-in-hungary-idUSKCN1SR2DQ
In Poland they censored gays kissing last year during Dana’s performance (whole performance to be exact). I feel you Marcelo
Wait, do you have proof of this? Because for such censorship the EBU always fines or bannes broadcasters and that would have been a huge scandal if Poland actually did that.
Countries are obliged to air only the performances of the participants. Some countries have commercial break during interval acts.
What Hibish said. They aired performances and didn’t show anything else (they did when it was live, because they didn’t know what’s comming, but day after there’s rebroadcast for people who missed it, but this year there’re just acts and commercials inbetween)
Better IN than OUT – keep it real
Clueless delegation.
Is there no possibility that Hungary might internally select?
One bad non-qualification and they are questioning the whole thing? That is a strange way of thinking. One non qualification doesn’t mean flop when the track record speaks for it self
There are other countries doing worse but still competing..
Example Montenegro.. Only 2 grand finals and a much smaller budget then hungary.
Bad non-qualification? How on Esrth was Joci’s entry bad?
Non qualification was bad and not Joci
Maybe broadcaster simply needed an excuse
Omg who made the pic of HU acts above? He made it in painting? And he forgot Compact Disco and AWS. Make new image for this article!
#justice4aws
But they had to do that to save face. They sent Julia in 2017 to make Ukraine look bad not accepting a disabled artist. Then needed to send her in 2018 as they said they would after the disqualification/withdrawal. Realistically if the 2017 contest was not in Ukraine, they never would have sent Julia as her live vocals were nowhere near up to scratch
They have done so well compared to my country (Finland) for exapmle. They shouldn’t give up so quick.
And something worth pointing out IF Hungary is participating, the chances of that rumour of 44 countries participating could actually be true, since Bulgaria is returning! But tbh I don’t Hungary will participate so..
44 ? 43 !
As long as I remember 2018,2016,2015,2014,2013,2011,2010,2006,2007,2001 and 2000 all happened in western europe
depends on how you define western Europe:
One definition consists of Benelux countries, France, UK and Ireland.
and the other one consists all countries that have been capitalist since world war 2..
Haha ikr, bless him.
Please Hungary, don’t withdraw! You’re one of the most unique countries in Eurovision.
If it does happen, hopefully, they can use the year off to work on the A Dal format and make it an actual viable national final where the best song actually has a decent chance of winning.
Netherlands, 2013: We didn’t qualify 8 times in a row, but we’re not gonna give up.
Hungary, now: A non-qualification? Bye, I’m out.
Better in than out right ?
Hungary is acting like Bulgaria did last year. It is clear you have made your mind up, stop trying to be all mysterious just cause you wanna be seen.
Bulgaria withdrew due to financial difficulties- a More justified decision
I know, but the way their twitter account was talking about it made it 10x more dramatic than it needed to be
I wonder if Orban, directly or indirectly, has led to this? A lot of other participating countries have had issues with democracy (with the proroguing of parliament, I’d include the UK in this list) but this doesn’t usually impact ESC participation in the way that geopolitical conflict does. Maybe they have problems specifically with the Dutch?
My thoughts exactly. Rotterdam is pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda a lot too. I’m really happy they are, but it would be a shame if some of the let’s say conservative countries don’t wanna participate then…
Maybe the Arab Muslim mayor was another reason considering the anti refugee and Islamophobic policies of the Fidesz party? Anyway it’s always sad to see countries withdraw. Hungary may genuinely be offended about not qualifying but it seems really petty if that’s the case.
I have nothing against the LGBT community, but I have to agree with the fact that the contest got too LGBT orientated.
I mean even in the teaser of Rotterdam they showed in large part gay couples..
I just have something against those who try to turn the contest into a LGBT event. It shouldn’t be only about LBGBT.
Eurovision is too liberal for our government. In a country where politicans say it’s an illness to be gay, it’s obvious that gay people don’t have the same rights, they are deviant and so on… There was also a conversation in the national television that it’s possible to cure lgbtq people and this is only a decision. After these I think it would be strange to see gay men kissing in the same channel. I miss my country but unfortunately I don’t feel sorry for “A Dal” which is a trash…
No again this has nothing to do with politics, like yeah Hungary is not the best country (politicly), but there is no way this has something to do with politics.
So it will be like Maruv – winning the NF but not taking part in Eurovision. That is to say if they will officially withdraw for next year.
Bang!
Somebody’s having a diva moment. Safura wants to know, “Why are you acting out?” It can’t be because of the one non-qualification this year, can it? Like, come on, it was fine and listenable at best. The LEDs were awesome, but that song was no loss for the final. Get your act together and win.
Well Safura has right to say that ….Azerbaijan only once didnt make it …..
It was never about the non-qualification, ESC just became way too liberal for our mini-dictator, best friend of Erdogan. Even Belarus and Azerbaijan tolerate it for 3 nights a year, but our government seems to be fed up with it. Their propaganda is about helping ‘normal’ families after all, they don’t want to show gay couples kissing on prime time television. It seems like they are spending their ESC budget on the prizes of the new A Dal format, so I don’t believe they are sending anyone. They want to be as isolated from the Western European values as possible.… Read more »
No I mean Hungary is still a democratic country + you cannot at all compare Hungary with Turkey like at all… And as you said if Moldova, Russia, Caucasus nations, Albania… are participating despite their politics, so can Hungary. So it was never about politics…
tbh I believe it has to do something with low viewing figures …
Democratic on paper maybe lol
Turkey is also a democracy. The people make it comparable – and the people voting for Erdo are the people who vote Orban.
I’m the one living here, and I can say that we can definitely compare.
We are welcoming today Putin btw, Erdogan comes next week 😀
No one watches A Dal either, and they still keep it, even though now even fewer people will watch it…
Balint you are right!
Még egy Ákost el tudok képzelni valami propaganda számmal xD
Please Hungary don’t withdraw. You’ve always send good songs and quality, if you won’t be in Rotterdam it will be the most ridiculous withdrawing in the history of the contest . Anyway I am so happy for Bulgaria.
Thank you, this post was needed. This proves how unreliable Wikipedia can sometimes be.
wikipedia is reliable as long as it cites valid sources. i guess they didn’t cite a good one.
I know
i’ll be praying to my copy of kati wolf’s cd that they don’t withdraw
If they have withdrawn for real, this is legit the most ridiculous withdrawal in the history of ESC. That’s what the 5yo kids do when they lose a game; “I’m not playing anymore. :(“
Yeah like I couldn’t care less anymore just tell as are you in or out stop acting so immature it’s annoying you missed the final only ONCE!
Nobody cares anymore
The fact that they are even refusing to make a proper announcement regarding ESC is just so annoying. Like what happened? You only missed the finals once in 10 years. What a big deal! They are so childish seriously.
I really hope Hungary won’t withdraw from Eurovision 2020!!!