Producer Nenov explained why Ruslana was not called to perform in the final of Eurovision 2023: it was an honest story

The creative director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 from Ukraine, Herman Nenov, commented on the scandal surrounding Ruslana for the first time. The singer, who was the first to win the international song contest for our country, was not invited to perform in the grand final in Liverpool. This caused surprise and even outrage among the Ukrainian public. Nenov set the record straight.

According to the producer, Ruslana had large-scale performances at Eurovision in 2005 and 2017, when the contest was held in Ukraine as last year's winner. This year, the organizers wanted to showcase new faces. This was the comment made by Nenov for the YouTube channel "Eurobachennya Ukraina."

"Ruslana is a Eurovision legend. Ruslana is the artist who had the greatest opportunity to promote Ukraine and herself as an artist in the past years at Eurovision. Ruslana was widely represented in 2005, and in 2017 she had such a fat piece of airtime because it is the act's interval in the grand final. This is the time of the superstar. My goal was to show the new faces of Ukraine. It had to be an honest story," said Nenov.

Many Ukrainian Euro fans also did not understand the choice of artists for the first and second semifinals of the Eurovision Song Contest. That's when ALYOSHA took the stage, along with Maria Yaremchuk and rapper OTOY. Nenov explained that the organizers chose these musicians for a reason, and called the performance important in terms of cultural diplomacy.

"ALYOSHA's number is a refugee story. She came out and shouted her pain. She was forced to immigrate to the United States with her children and stood in lines at the borders. As for Maria Yaremchuk, this is her story. Europeans are very empathetic. They cling to facts. Yaremchuk sang a song about her father, and this moment was actively discussed, which is very symbolic. It's as if the fans are crying because the daughter is singing her father's song. This moment of symbolism is catchy. OTOY in this context is also not an accidental choice. It's a strategy and it worked. They wrote about OTOY's brother who did not leave Azovstal. The world once again remembered this tragedy," commented the producer.

Recall that a scandal broke out around Ruslana and her performance at Eurovision-2023. The artist did not keep quiet and was supported by Ukrainian Eurofans.

At that time, the organizers assured that Ruslana would appear in the final of the show with a "special mission". However, in the end, the singer was just shown on video during the performance of 2010 Eurovision winner Duncan Lawrence from the Netherlands. This footage was without sound and lasted about 5 seconds. Fans were outraged, and they openly wrote about it in social networks. And here's how Ruslana herself reacted - find out in our material.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote that Ruslana Lyzhychko celebrated her birthday on May 24. The artist turned 50. Fans found it hard to believe, because the celebrity looks much younger.

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