The performer’s citizenship was deemed potentially divisive amid the Ukraine conflict, Yle reported
A singer was excluded from The Voice of Finland competition over her Russian passport, local media reported on Monday. However, fearful of massive coverage and potential backlash the removal could generate, the contest’s organizers said they changed their mind and invited the woman back.
According to the news outlet Yle, ‘Maria’ (her name has been changed) moved to Finland from Russia seven years ago and was granted Finnish citizenship. A frequent talent show participant, she successfully passed auditions and was allowed to compete in The Voice of Finland, the nation’s most popular song contest.
She took part in recording sessions as part of the contest in September, which were supposed to continue in mid-October
However, on the eve of a new session, she received a message from a producer informing her that she had been removed from the competition. “The contestant is a citizen of a country executing a war of aggression,” it stated, adding that no matter how correctly she comports herself during the program, “the discussion around the program would become politicized, and unfortunately we cannot allow that.”
In the aftermath of the incident, the Finnish outlet contacted the TV channel Nelonen, which broadcasts the competition, and production company ITV for comment. Having learned about the upcoming news report on the matter, Pete Paavolainen, the CEO of ITV, insisted that his company “treats all participants equally.”
He admitted that the decision made during the recording process was “hasty” and “soon found to be incorrect.” The CEO offered his apologies to the suspended contestant and said that she could return to the show.
Maria, however, was “morally devastated” by the incident and refused to come back. She told Yle that since the start of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow she had been supporting Ukraine, and had never faced discrimination in Finland before.
According to the woman, after getting a Finnish passport, she thought she had found a second home. “After February 24, I lost both my homeland and myself, as did many Russians… But now I feel that I no longer have a home either in Russia or in Finland,” she told the outlet.
Moreover, according to Yle, there was another Russian national who had initially been removed from the song contest before later being invited back. Paavolainen refused to speculate whether the original decision to suspend Russian citizens could be regarded as discrimination, adding that other ITV shows had never had such issues.
In March, the Russian Foreign Ministry lamented that after Moscow started its military campaign in Ukraine, “an unprecedented level of Russophobia” has been seen in numerous countries, exemplified by what it described as “discrimination” against Russian students, athletes and cultural professionals.
Last month, meanwhile, the Finnish government announced that it would bar Russian citizens with Schengen tourist visas from entering the country, arguing that the partial mobilization in the neighboring country, which was announced in September, “endangers Finland’s international position and international relations.”
