Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has condemned politicians from the nation’s right-wing Finns Party — a member of the four-party ruling coalition — for posting photos and videos on social media making a slanted-eyes gesture, commonly viewed as a racist symbol targeting Asians. “It became childish,” the premier said on Sunday. Two days later, he told reporters that the issue “has caused damage to our country.”
Two MPs, Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola, and EMP Sebastian Tynkkynen, said they posted the images in support of Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her Miss Finland title last week over a photo in which she distorted her eyes with a joking text referring to a Chinese person. Dzafce eventually apologized after initially saying she stretched her eyes because of a “severe headache.”
Finnish MP Juho Eerola posted a Facebook image in which he performed a slanted-eyed gesture | Screengrab via Facebook
Politician Says He Didn’t Mean To Cause Offense
Speaking to the Asahi Shimbun on Monday, Eerola said he didn’t mean to insult anyone and that he posted the image to make a statement about the pageant winner because he felt she received a “disproportionately harsh punishment.” He added, “I am deeply sorry that my photo caused offense to Asian people,” and that he was prepared to “apologize as many times as necessary.”
Also on Monday, the Embassy of Finland in Japan posted on X, “Over the past few days, the Finnish Embassy has received numerous opinions and questions regarding Finland’s efforts to address racism. Statements by individual politicians do not constitute the official position of the Finnish government. The government is committed to promoting equality and the elimination of discrimination, and is working diligently to combat racism.”
On Tuesday, Finland’s flag carrier Finnair told Yle that the racially charged photos were harming the airline’s operations. “We have received several comments on Finnair’s Japan X account about these images, which are perceived as racist and discriminatory. The message in all the comments is the same: ‘do not travel to this country, do not travel with Finnair’,” said the airline’s Communications Chief Päivyt Tallqvist via email.
Finland’s domestic airline Finnair has received online backlash
Online Petition Garners More than 20,000 Signatures
Yusuke Ota, a Japanese citizen living in Finland, launched an online petition calling for a formal public apology from the MPs who reenacted the discriminatory gesture. He is also demanding “an official nationwide survey on discrimination toward minority groups, including Asian communities” and the “consideration and development of national guidelines for recognizing and preventing discriminatory expressions.” At the time of writing, the petition has just under 23,000 signatures.
