The Serbian embassy in Brussels has issued a press release that states the Serbian goverment is upset by the way Belgian broadcaster VRT 'insults the Serbian people' in the live shows of Eurosong 2008, Belgium's Eurovision Song Contest selection show.

The heats have featured actresses who play the role of Serbian assistents Milena and Mirjana, sterotyped as women who like to drink a lot of wodka and don't shy away for stealing mobile phones.

The charactersare played by Belgian actresses. The women feature in all the postcards introducing the candidates in the Belgian selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, accompanied by Eurosong 2008 host Bart Peeters on stage during the live shows.

The Serbian embassy states that: "It's unnecessary and unacceptable to use such negative stereotypes in a tv programme like Eurosong, which should bring people from different countries with different cultural backgrounds closer together."

Eurosong 2008 producer Dries Verhaeghe has reacted by saying: "We want to bring entertainment on Sunday evenings. We use humour, and as it happens so often, we use clichés." The broadcaster has not intended to insult or offend.