Montenegro's 2025 Eurovision entry Clickbait could be disqualified

News out of Montenegro today could see a disqualification of their entry.

Montenegro's broadcaster RTCG took to social media today to share an issue with their current Eurovision entry.

A clip revealed that the band had performed the song at a festival in 2023. Eurovision rules state that the song can not be released before September 1st, however, there have been different interpretations of that.

The rules state:

The songs (lyrics and music compositions) submitted to represent the country of each Participating Broadcaster’s country in the ESC must be original and must not have been released and/or publicly performed in part or in full before 1 September 2024 (the “Release Date”).

They are reviewing the clip and will discuss with the EBU about a potential disqualification.

A decision on potential disqualification will be made tomorrow, December 2, after consultation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The full statement read (based off Google translate):

RTCG and UEUI are verifying the authenticity of the recording, which suggests the winners of this year's MONTESONG festival, NeonoeN, performed the song Clickbait in a different version at last year's Zabjelo Culture Festival…

FINAL DECISION TOMORROW

A decision on potential disqualification will be made tomorrow, December 2, after consultation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The band responds

The band commented on the social post, stating they had no competitive advantage.

We would like to point out that the song has not been published, commercially or otherwise exploited and that it could not have had a competitive advantage in the competition, and therefore the victory on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. was fully deserved.

Before adding:

Suddenly, the problem is that somewhere, sometime in front of 20 people, we played a part of a song in the making, in one of its working versions

Whatever the decision regarding our victory, we will respect it and either represent Montenegro worthily or wish all the best to whoever will eventually represent us at Eurovision :)

You can read the band's full statement below:

We would like to point out that the song has not been published, commercially or otherwise exploited and that it could not have had a competitive advantage in the competition, and therefore the victory on Wednesday, November 27, 2024. was fully deserved. The public heard the song at the moment when the other songs participating in this year's Montesong were also published. If it had not won, this would not have been talked about, just as it was not talked about during the entire time the song was officially available to the public.

Whatever the decision regarding our victory, we will respect it and either represent Montenegro worthily or wish all the best to whoever will eventually represent us at Eurovision :)

Until yesterday, few people even knew we existed. Especially in our live performances where we played our original music mostly for a small circle of people in almost empty spaces. Suddenly, the problem is that somewhere, sometime in front of 20 people, we played a part of a song in the making, in one of its working versions :) We wonder if any of the audience even remembered hearing it, and especially if that's why they decided to vote for us at the Montesong festival almost two years later??? That's Rock 'n' roll :)) But, as we've been saying from the beginning - our goal is actually to play the music we create and to expand the possibility of its distribution...

In the past, songs that were performed at small events before September 1 were allowed to compete due to no competitive advantage.

However, some have also been disqualified.

It is all a judgement call by the EBU if the entry has an advantage over other participating songs.

Video explainer:

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