Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo apologized to Asian nations on Wednesday in an attempt to stifle a growing controversy over racist images shared by members of his government’s four-party coalition in solidarity with a beauty pageant winner who was stripped of her title.
The scandal arose earlier this month when the former Miss Finland winner, Sarah Dzafce, 22, was pictured pulling back her eyes in an image shared on social media alongside the caption, “eating with a Chinese person.”
Two members of the Finnish parliament and one European parliament member, all from the Finns Party, the country’s right-wing populist movement, responded to Dzafce by posting similar images of themselves pulling back their eyes after it was announced that she would be stripped of her crown over the derogatory post.
In his apology, released by Finnish embassies in China, Japan and South Korea, Orpo wrote, “These posts do not reflect Finland’s values of equality and inclusion.”
“Our message in Finland and to all our friends abroad is that the government takes racism seriously and is committed to combatting the issue,” he added.
Dzafce, who is not of Asian heritage, also apologized, saying she did not intend to offend anyone.
“I take responsibility for my actions and learn from this,” she wrote in an Instagram post, days before the Miss Finland organization revoked her title.
In a statement on Saturday, the organization wrote that the content she posted was “offensive, harmful, and completely against the values of the Miss Finland competition.”
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“We are deeply sorry for the harm these events have caused. Especially to the Asian community, but also to everyone affected. Racism is never acceptable in any form,” it continued.
One of the MPs who mimicked Dzafce’s post, Juho Eerola, told Reuters he had apologized for his post and declined to give further comment.
Kaisa Garedew, a Finnish MP, and Sebastian Tynkkynen, a member of the European Parliament, also shared derogatory photos and have been reprimanded by their party, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, the country’s national public news outlet reported.
“We discussed the matter seriously within the parliamentary group and concluded that the images should not have been published. We have agreed that this will not happen again. The MPs have received a serious warning from the group,” Finns Party leader Jani Mäkelä told the broadcaster.
Shortly after taking office in 2023, Orpo’s government faced a no-confidence vote over racist online posts and statements made by several cabinet members from the Finns Party.
The scandal is the latest in a slew of setbacks linked to this year’s broader Miss Universe contest in Thailand, where organizers have faced walkouts and allegations of rigging.
Miss Mexico, the competition’s eventual winner, and several other contestants walked out of the pageant during a sashing ceremony in November, after one of the pageant’s executives called her “dumb.”
Also in November, a Thai court issued an arrest warrant for the co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case.
— With files from Reuters
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