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Viktor's comments about Brunei are not appreciated.
He produced and composed ZENA's "Like It" - the Belarusian entry for Eurovision 2019. But earlier this week, Viktor Drobysh caused quite a controversy with a series of tasteless messages on social media. On Wednesday, Brunei will introduce a new law that punishes homosexual sex and adultery with death by stoning. The movement has been universally condemned and the UN has labelled it as "cruel and inhumane."
Viktor Drobysh said the following on Facebook and Instagram: “Finally! I therefore have a dream for an artist from Brunei to win Eurovision and for the contest to go to Brunei. That’s all! The business would change. Many new faces appear. In general, interesting. Although the death penalty is too much. Perhaps just a beating.”
It did not stop there. Drobysh gave an "apology" online on Monday. “I am upset that my ironic post about the new law of the government of Brunei caused such a fuss, and I want to apologise for the too dark humour, if it touched and hurt the feelings of sexual minorities. And to me, once again, was clear, what a big difference there is between gays and f*gs.”
Some minor rule changes
Last week, the Czech head of the delegation, Jan Bors, hinted at the changes in this year's results presentation. And now the website Eurovision.tv has been updated to show these alterations. But what exactly will change this year?
Unlike the massive changes in 2016, there will only be a few minor changes to the way the results will be announced this year: The order in which the televoting results are announced is determined by the ranking of the jury result. The announcement of the televoting results starts with the country that receives the least points from the jury and ends with the country with the highest points from the jury.
The presenters will announce the sum of points each song has received from the voices of the televote in all participating countries. Scores will still be calculated in the same way as in the last three years. However, we will have to wait until later in the voting order to see if an act was successful with the televoters. And acts that did not appear to be that popular among the jury will receive their televote boost much earlier.
Previous winners take the stage
In the night of the second semifinal of Eurovision 2019, three Eurovision winners will perform at the stage of Tel Aviv: Loreen (2012), Carola (1991) and Anne Marie-David (1973). There are many surprises left for this evening and most are still unknown.
Tel Aviv is planning to host non-stop parties during the Eurovision week. On Thursday 16 May, the night of the second semi-final, the port of Tel Aviv will present one of the highlights: three winners of the Eurovision Song Contest - Loreen, Carola and Anne Marie-David – will share the stage. According to The Jerusalem Post, we can expect a full show from all three winners. They will perform with six dancers and a team of Israeli drag queens will support the show.
