Throw a glitzy party for all of Europe and controversy will arrive with bells on. Last year Ukraine won the Eurovision song contest with “1944” (by Jamala, pictured), a ditty about the deportation of Crimean Tatars under Stalin. Somehow that was judged to evade Eurovision’s ban on politics, but it succeeded in infuriating third-placed Russia. It also won Ukraine the right to host this year’s edition, due in May. But the event is causing uproar even before the first song is sung. It has been beset by delays, funding woes—and even online chatter that the whole thing might be moved from Kyiv to Russia. Then on Feb, 13 a team of 21 organisers resigned from the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (NPBCU), throwing the festival of tawdry pop into doubt. The European Broadcasting Union, which owns Eurovision, urged Ukraine to “stick to the timeline” and politicians sought to soothe worried fans. “Absolutely nothing threatens Eurovision,” vowed Volodymyr Groysman, the prime minister. Why is Ukraine’s Eurovision party under threat?
Eurovision 2021
The Economist: Why Ukraine’s Eurovision song contest is in crisis
President of the City Council of Stockholm Eva-Louise Erlandsson Slorach (L) and Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko hold symbolic keys of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 during a handover ceremony in Kyiv on Jan. 31, 2017.
