Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 2002 Contest. Throughout Norway's 50 year participation at Eurovision the organisation of the national selection process, and the broadcast of the international final and semi-finals has been the job of Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK). Melodi Grand Prix 2009, the Norwegian national final, selected the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The entire contest was to be hosted by last year's Norwegian entry Maria Haukaas Storeng and past MGP host and Eurovision commentator Per Sundnes. For 2009, at least 50% of the songwriting team must be Norwegian or live in Norway which is due to the success of Norway in
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 interview when he called the Eurovision Song Contest itself the "biggest gay parade". The Dutch group De Toppers made news by member Gordon threatening to boycott the final of Eurovision 2009 if the gay parade was violently beaten down. However, the group's failure to qualify for the final left this threat redundant. Following the release of the final participants list by the EBU, 42 countries confirmed their participation in the 2009 contest, including Slovakia, which returned to the contest after 11 years. Georgia originally announced that it was to withdraw from the contest due to the 2008 South Ossetia war