🇱🇻 Saule disqualified from participation in Supernova 2023

Only one day after the competitors in Latvia’s national selection for Eurovision 2023 were revealed, one contestant – Saule – has been disqualified from the competition.

Saule breaks rules for this year’s Supernova

Following LTV’s unveiling of the competing entries in Supernova on Thursday, the board of directors at the broadcaster decided to remove Saule from the competition. This is because Saule had played his entry – “Finally Happy” – publicly in December 2021. This is in violation of the rules of the competition, which state that the song should not have been played before September 1st, 2022.

LTV clarified that 125 songs were received by the broadcaster from interested artists, 121 in the submissions window. Of these, only 21 did not blatantly comply with the rules. The broadcaster goes on to say that Saule was aware of the rules ahead of submitting his entry. It was also announced that it was only after the revelation of the semi-finalists that “Finally Happy” was publicly performed before September 1st. As a result, LTV decided to suspend Saule from the national selection.

As a result, only 14 songs remain in contention to represent Latvia. LTV confirmed that no replacement will be made for the disqualification, citing preparations which already underway. The semi-final for Supernova 2023 will be held on February 4th. Following this, the final will take place one week later at February 11th.

Latvia’s Eurovision journey

Latvia made their Eurovision debut in 2000, finishing 3rd with “My Star” by Brainstorm. They have performed at every contest since and managed to win in 2002. Marie N sang “I Wanna,” scoring 176 points and bringing Eurovision to Riga in the process. Latvia also managed to finish in the top 10 two more times, in 2005 and 2015. Latvia’s most recent entry on the Eurovision stage was Citi Zeni, who performed “Eat Your Salad”. The song failed to qualify from the semi-final, finishing 14th with 55 points.

What do you think of Saule’s disqualification? Did you think “Finally Happy” had a chance of representing Latvia in Liverpool? Who do you believe will benefit from the change in line-up? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we gear up for Eurovision 2023!

News Source: LTV

Photo Credit: LTV