Earlier this week German broadcaster NDR released the 6 acts that will be competing in their Eurovision national final “Germany 12 Points”. Despite having a large amount of international support and submiting an entry, fan favorite Eskimo Callboy was not shortlisted for the competition. Fans then took to Eurovision Song Contest Deutschland’s Facebook post and other similar posts to announce their dissapointment, anger, and a variety of other feelings.
Due to the increasing number of comments on their Facebook page’s announcement – many of which were against the selected artists themselves – the broadcaster added a pinned comment to the post three days ago: “We are always happy to have lively and factual discussions. You may or may not like the pre-choice acts, like the songs or not, get upset or rejoice. BUT: Insults by the candidates have no place here and will be removed from us.” They would make another statement to a user that “…..criticism is completely OK with us! But petitions, whether at the ESC or our other presence – we can’t and don’t want to support.”
https://www.facebook.com/EurovisionDE/posts/10166051673085094
Their comments are in response to a change.org petition that demands a realistic chance of doing well in Eurovision by awarding Eskimo Callboy a wildcard, a process that was used to allow S!sters to compete in 2019. The petitioners goal, on top of getting Eskimo Callboy into the final show, is to prevent Germany from another 0 points in Turin this year. Despite the petition having collected over 78,000 signatures as of date, NDR has doubled down on the final list for the national final. ESC kompakt asked NDR about the situation and Andreas Gerling, the Head of ARD’s Eurovision team, said this in response:
“Out of the 944 applications, 26 were shortlisted, and presented themselves in front of the German ESC jury live in Berlin, among them was also the band “Eskimo Callboy”. After long discussions and deliberations of pro and contra, the jury has nominated 6 out of the 26 applicants for the ARD Eurovision day. It is a competition with a jury’s decision, and the applicants knew this in advance.
However, we do take the critics seriously. I want to invite the initiators of the petition, who want to get “Eskimo Callboy” nominated, to a personal exchange over the ESC selection process and what lies in the future. The same goes for ESC fans in clubs, I also want to have a conversation with them. And now let’s support the six artists, that are in the race for the ESC ticket, with all our powers!”
While this may not be the outcome fans and petitioners wanted, it does allow them to join the conversation for Germany’s pre-selection and ultimately create a larger diversity of entries for Germany to consider.
Are #YOU in agreement with NDR or do you think a wildcard should be assigned for Germany 12 Points? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
