After submitting a song deemed "too political", Belarus will not be taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The Eastern European country failed to submit an eligible entry for the competition after a song by the group Galasy ZMesta was rejected by organisers for said reason.
Belarus was requested a few weeks ago to change the song after organisers of the event stated it put the "non-political nature of the contest in question" and risked bringing it into disrepute.
On Friday, the Eurovision confirmed a fresh entry had been sent but it still broke guidelines.
Statement from the @EBU_HQ regarding Belarus and the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.https://t.co/qvmyjxqAq4 pic.twitter.com/2Au8HKb1Ad
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) March 26, 2021
"The EBU and the Reference Group, the contest's governing board, carefully scrutinized the new entry to assess its eligibility to compete," said a Eurovision tweet.
"It was concluded that the new submission was also in breach of the rules of the competition that ensure the contest is not instrumentalized or brought into disrepute."
The 65th Eurovision content was cancelled last year due to COVID but acts will be heading to Rotterdam in The Netherlands to compete.
Dublin singer/songwriter Lesley Roy has been selected as to represent Ireland for Eurovision 2021, following the postponement of 2020's scheduled event.
The competition is scheduled to take place in the Netherlands in May.
