MTV confirmed in January 2009 that an internal selection will be held to select the Hungarian entry for the 2009 contest. An open call for songs was held until 2 February, with both the performer and song being selected internally.
On February 3rd, after receiving a total of 105 entries, MTV revealed that they had selected Márk Zentai to represent Hungary at the contest in Moscow, Russia, with the song "If You Wanna Party". However, shortly after the announcement of the proposed Hungarian entry, it came to light that the song selected had been released in 2004 under the title "We Became Friends", which acted as the Swedish Big Brother theme song. Zentai withdrew his song from the selection shortly after this news became apparent, and MTV set about finding a new entrant for the contest.
On February 4th, MTV announced that actress Kátya Tompos would replace Zentai as the Hungarian representative, competing with the song "Magányos csónak" (Lonely boat). However the Alliance of Hungarian Popular Music Composers and Songwriters protested that they did not feel as if the jury had long enough to make a correct decision on 3rd of February, and were dissatisfied with the internal selection instead of a national final where the public could vote for the winner. Other claims were made as well, such as that the songwriters have to be from his or her motherland and that the jury was not professional. MTV, however, stood by their decision of selecting the song internally, as well as revealing that the jury of television and music industry professionals chose the song all day long on 3 February, and that they were satisfied with the jury's decision.
On 10 February, Tompos announced her withdrawal from the contest, alleging she wanted to focus on her theatre career and that she had no time to prepare her participation in Eurovision properly, beause she takes part in 8 plays of 3 different theatres. The MTV jury had to convene once again to select another artist to represent Hungary at Eurovision. On 23 February, MTV held a press conference about this year's entrant. They mentioned that the jury chose three songs before the final decision was made to be sure one of them will not withdraw and completely meet the requirements. Then they announced the official entrant, which was Zoli Ádok with the song "Dance With Me".
Results of internal selection
(1st) Márk Zentai - "If You Wanna Party" (disqualified)
(2nd) Kátya Tompos - "Magányos csónak" (withdrawn)
(3rd) Zoli Ádok - "Dance With Me" (final entrant)
ESC 2009 - Zoli Ádok to represent Hungary
Eurovision 2009 Hungarian press conference (with English subtitles)
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