Ukrainian delegation at Eurovision 2024 was fined for T-shirts with inscription "Free Azovstal Defenders". PHOTO
Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 received a financial fine for wearing T-shirts with the inscription "Free Azovstal Defenders", which called for the release of Azovstal defenders from Russian captivity.
According to Censor.NET, this was stated by the representative of Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Alyona Alyona.
According to the singer, the security guards checked all the clothes at the competition, as any inscriptions or brand names were prohibited. If an inscription was found on the clothes, they asked to remove it or covered it with black tape.
It was a very risky task to appear in such T-shirts
Before going to the green room, representatives of the Ukrainian delegation put on T-shirts with the words "Free Azovstal Defenders", hiding them under other clothes.
"We knew that when they would show replays of all the artists' performances, they would also show the delegation itself. So when the camera came up to us, our team quickly opened up and showed our appeal to the whole world. We took a big risk, but it worked out. We just got off with a financial fine," the singer said.
According to her, the Ukrainian delegation started having difficulties at the stage of creating the T-shirts: the printers either did not work or refused to print the text "FREE AZOVSTAL DEFENDERS". Eventually, one of the printers agreed to help after the fifth call.
The representative of Ukraine also added that she was "incredibly happy" that they had managed to remind the world about Ukrainian prisoners of war.
As a reminder, Nemo from Switzerland won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Ukraine took third place with 453 points.
