Violation of the rules: Felicia Lu flies out of the German ESC jury

breaking the rules
Felicia Lu flies out of the German ESC jury

05/10/2022 4:34 p.m

Singer Felicia Lu’s joy at being part of the German jury at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest does not last long. Just one day after her nomination, she had to vacate her post again. But a replacement has already been found.

Shortly after the German jury announced the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2022 in Turin, there was already a change: the singer and Youtuber Felicia Lu will not take part in the German scoring. However, a replacement has already been found, as reported by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR): TV presenter Jessica “Jess” Schöne will be in the second ESC semi-final and in the final on Saturday evening together with the singers Michelle and Tokunbo, musicians Max Giesinger and radio presenter Christian Brost awarded half of the German points.

“It’s really a great honor for me to be able to sit next to all the music professionals on the German jury and to be able to contribute my perspective,” quotes the broadcaster Schöne. The KIKA moderator has been accompanying the Junior ESC since 2020.

The reason for Felicia Lu’s exclusion is a violation of the rules of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The 26-year-old had already published her favorites from this year’s competition in March. However, EBU rules state that national jury members are not allowed to nominate their favorites – Lu had signed an agreement to that effect in April.

“Very very sad”

In an Instagram story, the native of Salzburg commented on her exclusion: “It’s really shocking, I’m very, very sad.” Although she can understand the decision, she feels compelled to make a clarification: at the time she announced her favorites in a video, she didn’t know anything about her jury job.

At the ESC, the spectators only decide half of the points awarded to the participating countries. The other 50 percent goes back to the vote of the respective national jury. This system was introduced in order to counteract the often common points haggling between certain states. However, this only helped to a limited extent.