HELSINKI: Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Tuesday that a racism scandal that saw the country’s Miss Finland being stripped of her crown and several politicians posting derogatory images was damaging his country’s image. “Yesterday, during a debate in parliament, I said that this has caused damage to our country. That is certainly the case,” Orpo told reporters on Tuesday at the sidelines of a summit gathering leaders of European countries near or bordering Russia.

“Personally, I do not accept racism in any form,” he said.

The scandal began last week when the 2025 Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, lost her title after sharing a picture on social media in November where she pulled back the corner of her eyes and squinted alongside the caption “eating with a Chinese person” in Finnish, which was perceived as a racist stereotype of East Asian features.

Two MPs, Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola, and EMP Sebastian Tynkkynen from the right-wing populist Finns Party — one of the ruling parties in Finland’s coalition government — later posted images of themselves on social media doing the same gesture, saying it was in support of Dzafce and criticising the organisation for stripping her of her title.

Eerola later apologised for posting his image.The government’s parliamentary group chairpersons on Tuesday jointly condemned the posts made by their colleagues. “This should not have happened. Not now and not in the future,” Jukka Kopra, the National Coalition Party’s parliamentary group chairman, told reporters, calling the posts “derogatory” and “inappropriate” and undermining Finland’s reputation.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2025