Romania 2019 🇷🇴 did Laura Bretan miss Eurovision venture due to her beliefs?
ROMANIA – It was. a shocking national final last night in Bucharest for the majority of us watching the show. Not only due the results but also due to implications behind the voting. We all agree that the voting system was already known in advance and we knew that there were big chances to see reactions like those we had in the previous Maltese selection where public voting was only a small part of the final score.
First of all we had two favourites: Laura and Bella. Those of us watching the show and following the live chat and social media we couldn’t miss noticing that they were indeed the favourites. The two favourites thought seem to have had two flaws. Bella had a song presentation which clearly reminded us Ruslana. That was simply tacky and personally I would never have voted for such a copy cat. Moreover Bella was totally out of tune. Laura on the other hand was brilliant in vocal performance and had a song which might have brought loot of media attention. But Laura recently took a stand against the same sex referendum in Romania.
When you have such a controversial participant (although I completely disagree with the homophobic status attributed to Laura because simply she has an opinion) you don’t invite the queers of Wiwibloggs. And as if this was not enough, TVR gave them two spots in the international jury panel which accumulated as 25% of the final voting. The two professional journalists who run the business of Wiwiblogggs – which openly earns money from their Eurovision “fan” venture, gave low scores to Laura and Bella, ranking first Ester in their voting, while previously they didn’t even notice as a winner through their multi viewed video reviews.
TVR made a huge mistake not only using international jury, not only using that specific voting system but inviting people without voting diversity. Of course fans are also furious with Emmelie de Forest who gave no points to Bella! OK the song was not the best but since it was considered a favourite at least it should have get some points.
Huge mess which resulted into complete realisation that fan sites (especially those who are getting paid and make money through Eurovision) should not be trusted. This is the main reason we at oikotimes.com stopped accepting any jury spots since 2008. Attending national finals as guest juries in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Azerbaijan and more, we realised that there are lot of things happening behind the scenes. The last time oikotimes.com accepted a jury spot was in the 2008 Azeri final, represented by our black then editor Luke Fisher.
Was Ester though the worst entry? Well personally I think the song is quite OK. Of course it will not bring the trophy to Bucharest (we all know that) but we have to listen and say attention to the Romanian public which a awarded Ester only 3 points. Whether we like the song or not, whether people can choose the best song or not, public voice should at least be equal to any jury (international or national) vote.
The issue of international jury is a trend which anyway has no meaning. We know how it works (especially behind the scenes) as it aims to provoke the national audience and boost the tele voting revenues. International jury is calmed to give a more neutral view to a national selection of which entry is better for Eurovision. But who assures me that the international jury doesn’t want to destroy a country’s effort in Eurovision? We forget that these people coming from other participating nations will always have as a priority for their country to do better in the Eurovision scoreboard than the country they are invited from.
Weirdly besides www.eurovisionfun.com and us, no other website dared to speak about this issue! (yet)
To conclude: if your don’t stand pro gay (as Laura did) you are a homophobe and you don’t get a chance in Eurovision. It is also worth of notice, MIHAI’s statement as a tweet on Wiwibloggs account which was somehow a prophecy (?)
M I H A I says that #SelectiaNationala fan favourites Bella Santiago and Laura Bretan aren't actually contenders to win this weekend. https://t.co/scB5gYm4Vh via @Eddturnip pic.twitter.com/V6N1uUyAbH
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) February 14, 2019
MIHAI reacted to the results of the Seletia Nationala 2019 on social networks: “I am happy that the international jury has done justice! Ester won without wildcards or morbid influences from Eurovision fans.”