Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, was stripped of her crown after a racist gesture went viral. Photo / Instagram
Miss Universe prides itself on spreading “kindness and empathy” and bringing people together.
But just three months into her reign, Miss Finland has caused deep divisions in her own government and outrage on the other side of the world.
Sarah Dzafce was stripped of her crown after a photo of her pulling the sides of her eyes in a “slanted-eyes” gesture went viral. She had captioned the social media post “eating with a Chinese”.
Some Finnish MPs have rushed to defend her, exposing the deep divisions and ugly history of one of the Nordic country’s governing parties.
Dzafce, who competed in this year’s Miss Universe in Thailand, apologised after first claiming the gesture was because she was trying to soothe a headache. The 22-year-old said a friend had added the offensive caption, but her December 11 post drew criticism from Japan, South Korea and China.
Two MPs and an MEP from the hard-right Finns Party shared pictures of themselves making the same offensive gesture.
The row has set the anti-migrant Finns Party against its allies in the four-party conservative coalition that governs Finland, which issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the photos as “disgraceful”.
There have been calls to boycott Finnair, which is expected to be the largest carrier between Japan and Europe next summer and has operated routes to Japan for more than 40 years. The airline was forced to issue a statement saying the politicians did not represent its values.
Petteri Orpo, the Prime Minister and leader of the centre-right National Coalition Party, said the MPs’ gestures were “thoughtless and stupid” and “damaging” to the country.
“It went into childishness,” said Orpo, who insists he has a zero tolerance policy against racism and extremism. “This is not the example parliamentarians should be setting.”
Riikka Purra, the Finns Party leader and finance minister, has not condemned the images. She said they highlighted the “absurdity” of the debate and showed support for Dzafce.
MPs Juho Eerola, Kaisa Garedew, and MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen each mimicked the slanted eyes gesture.
Eerola, who chairs the Finnish parliament’s legal affairs committee, made the photo his Facebook profile picture and gave it the caption “Je suis Sarah”.
“If this counts as racism, then everything starts to count as racism,” he said in defence of Dzafce, who he said understood racism because she has a Kosovan father and Finnish mother.
He later said his image was meant to be “fun” and to criticise the Miss Finland organisation, which apologised after removing Dzafce from a role she had held since September.
“It was not to mock Chinese, Koreans or anyone else,” Eerola said, before later apologising “for the misunderstanding and upset it had caused”.
Tynkkynen posted a video of himself on X making the gesture and said it was not racist. “If the intent is to offend, that’s wrong. But that wasn’t the case here,” he said.
The Finns Party, which came second in the 2023 general election in a record result, has been accused of having links to white supremacist ideology.
In 2023, just 10 days after the new Government had taken power, Vilhelm Junnila, the economy minister, resigned amid an outcry over repeated Nazi references he had made in the past.
Shortly afterwards, Purra was criticised for making racist comments in online blog posts in 2008.
Wille Rydman replaced Junnila, but was revealed by a newspaper to have used racial slurs in private messages with a girlfriend in 2016.
The photo scandal is seen as the first test of a new system introduced after controversies involving members of the populist party. Parties agreed to a process where MPs breaching equality commitments would be reviewed by chairs of the coalition.
“The group leaders of the government parties unequivocally condemn these inappropriate and disgraceful acts,” Jukka Kopra, who chairs the National Coalition Party’s parliamentary group, said following a meeting of party leaders in Helsinki.
“They damage Finland’s reputation and serve no purpose. Elected officials represent more than just their own party or personal views.”
He said the responsibility for any disciplinary action now rested with the Finns Party, warning: “Each party’s credibility is tested by how it holds its members accountable and whether it respects shared principles.”
Jani Mäkelä, the parliamentary group leader for the Finns Party, said the concerns raised would be considered.
He also defended the two MPs, saying Eerola still had the party’s full support and added: “There may be different interpretations, but in a coalition government, the views of other parties must be taken into account.”
The party is expected to address the matter formally on Thursday.
Finland’s next general election is scheduled for 2027.
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