Georgia's Anti-Putin Pun That the EBU Would Not Let Travel to Moscow

MAY 15 2009 · 12:25

Stephane & 3G · "We Don't Wanna Put In" · Georgia · 2009 Placement: Withdrawn · Language: English · Composers: Stephane Mgebrishvili, Bibi Kvachadze · Venue: Olimpiysky Arena · Host: Moscow, Russia · Type: protest · Broadcast: HD In February 2009, nine months after Russian tanks had rolled into South Ossetia and seven months after a ceasefire Georgia considered a defeat, the Georgian broadcaster GPB selected Stephane & 3G's 'We Don't Wanna Put In' as its Eurovision entry. The chorus resolved, as everyone instantly heard, to 'we don't wanna Putin' — a disco pun delivered with deliberately theatrical grin-and-wink staging. The contest that year was to be held at Moscow's Olimpiysky Arena. The EBU's Reference Group ruled in March that the lyrics violated the rule prohibiting songs of a political or similar nature and asked GPB to either rewrite the lyrics or submit a different song. GPB refused both options and Georgia withdrew from Eurovision 2009 rather than sand the pun down. The song never travelled to Moscow and Stephane & 3G never performed it on the Eurovision stage. Its entire existence as a Eurovision entry lasted about five weeks. Context The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War had ended with Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states and a deep freeze in Georgian-Russian relations. That Moscow was hosting Eurovision the following spring made the political temperature of every participating country's selection decision unusually sharp. Georgia's choice of 'We Don't Wanna Put In' was widely read, including inside Georgia, as an intentional provocation calibrated to either be permitted (a diplomatic coup) or be banned (a diplomatic coup of a different kind). The withdrawal delivered the second option. The EBU's political-content rule, which had existed in various forms for decades, had rarely been invoked so conspicuously. Legacy The song is now the textbook example used whenever the EBU's political-content rule is discussed — cited in Jamala 2016 debates, in Iceland's 2019 Hatari Palestinian-flag incident, in the Russia-expulsion conversations of 2022. It established the modern pattern of Eurovision political controversies: a country proposes a borderline-political entry, the EBU rules, the country either complies or withdraws, and the resulting press cycle outweighs the song's actual competitive relevance. Stephane & 3G released the song commercially; it circulated online as a minor protest anthem and has remained there. Georgia returned to Eurovision in 2010. Mythology The song is sometimes reported as having been disqualified after performance; it was withdrawn before the contest and never performed at Eurovision. The chorus is sometimes misquoted as 'we don't want Putin' — the lyric is 'we don't wanna Put In,' with the pun the whole point.