Song Controversy and Withdrawal
Shortly after "We Don't Wanna Put In" was selected, the song received widespread coverage due to political connotations in its lyrics. The song, a jab at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, gained news coverage in countries around Europe, however the song was rumoured to be ineligible to compete, due to rules forbidding "lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature". A spokesperson for GPB denied that the song was of a political nature, and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organisers of the contest, refused to make a statement until the song was officially submitted to them. A protest was held in Moscow over the song on 2 March 2009, organised by the Young Russia political group.
On 10 March, the EBU told GPB that the song's lyrics did not comply with the rules of the contest, and asked them to either re-write the lyrics of the song, or select another to compete. On 11 March, GPB announced that it would not change the lyrics of the song, or the song itself, saying that it does not have political connotations within its lyrics, and perceiving the EBU's rejection of the song as political pressure from Russia. The country therefore withdrew from the contest. Confirmation of the withdrawal given, when the running order was announced on 16 March, and Georgia was not included.
Read more about this topic: Georgia In The Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Famous quotes containing the words song, controversy and/or withdrawal:
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm CXXXVII (l. CXXXVII, 4–5)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true. A simple morning’s greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and fraught with implications.... Each nicety becomes more sterile and each withdrawal more permanent.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)