Georgia's official entry for 2009 was banned by a multinational panel of judges for violating a Eurovision ban on songs with overtly political content. The Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In" (geddit?) by Stephane and 3G, reflected sentiments about Georgia's recent war with Russia in a series of bad puns about Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: "We don't wanna put in/Cuz negative move/ It's killin' the groove/I'm gonna try to shoot in/Some disco tonight/Boogie with you." The European Broadcasting Union asked Georgian Public Broadcasting to either change the lyrics or select a new song. But Georgia refused, denying the song was political and blaming the rejection on pressure from Russia, and subsequently withdrew from the contest.
Ironically, the Russian entry has also courted controversy. "Mamo" is sung in a combination of Ukrainian and Russian, has lyrics partially written by an Estonian, music by a Georgian and is performed by Anastasia Prikhodko, who is Ukrainian. Russia has had major political conflicts with all these countries over the past two years.