The Autonomous Women’s Center of Serbia released a statement earlier today where they are requesting RTS and the organization of Beovizija to disqualify one of the competing songs – “Svadba velika” which is to be performed by Bora Dugić and Balkubano.

Just over a week before Beovizija 2020 starts, the Autonomous Women’s Center of Serbia requested “Svadba velika” to be disqualified due to the lyrics of the song promoting domestic violence against women. The lyrics of the song translated into English are as follows:

I brought a bomb with me, I brought one my darling,
Because I love you like crazy, because I love you like crazy.
I came with my best man, I came with my brother,
To ask you to marry me, and ask for your father’s blessing.
If you say no, if you say no, if you say no,
I’ll blowing everyone up.
If you say yes, if you say yes, if you say yes,
The wedding will be big.
…
I dare you to say no, I dare you to say no, I dare you to say no
And it will explode.

The statement released by the Women’s Center is as follows:

The Autonomous Women’s Center find it inadmissible to give public space and to promote songs with lyrics explicitly calling for murder of a woman who says “no”, who promote the idea that a woman should be “mine or nobody else’s”, and falsely states that the situation in the song describes love.

This is not the first nor the only pop song that promotes violence against women, and we consider it extremely important to end the promotion and support of such values, especially when it received media coverage on all public service platforms in Serbia.

We remind everyone that between 30 and 40 women are killed every year in domestic violence in Serbia, and this situation will not change until all factors in society take responsibility for preventing and promoting violence agianst women.

Have your say – should this entry be allowed in Beovizija, and in Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below, or on our social media pages.