Miss Finland loses title over squinting gesture

Former Miss Finland Sarah Dzafce attends a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday Dec 11, 2025. (Emmi Korhonen/Lehtikuva via AP)

Finland’s prime minister apologized on Wednesday to citizens of Japan, China and South Korea after MPs sparked outrage by posting pictures of themselves making derogatory squinting gestures.

The parliamentarians from the populist Finns Party, which is part of the right-wing coalition government, posted images on social media where they pulled back the corners of their eyes -- widely seen as a racist gesture targeting East Asian people.

They claimed to have shared the pictures in support of the 2025 Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her title last week for posting a similar picture on social media in November.

“I offer my sincere apologies for the recent offensive social media posts done by individual MPs,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo was quoted as saying in statements on the social media accounts of Finland’s embassies in Japan, China and South Korea.

“These posts do not reflect Finland’s values of equality and inclusion,” the statement said, adding that “racism and discrimination have no place in Finnish society.”

Public broadcaster Yle reported that a Finnish TV production company had put collaborative projects in Japan on hold and Finnish airline Finnair also said their brand had been negatively impacted.

The prime minister’s office told AFP he wanted to stress that the trio’s behaviour “does not represent Finland’s position.”

The parliamentarians -- MPs Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola and MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen -- have reacted differently to the controversy.

While Eerola apologized and Tynkkynen said the gesture was not meant to hurt anyone’s feelings, Garedew told local media she did not believe she needed to say sorry.

The Finns Party’s parliamentary group is due to meet on Thursday to discuss potential sanctions against the MPs.

Finland’s government, which came into power in 2023, has been rocked by several incidents where Finns Party members have made incendiary comments.

In August, another Finns Party MP said immigrants were turning Finland into “a pigsty.”