A year and a half after causing a diplomatic incident with Canada, Icelandic president Gudni Johannesson has apologised for threatening to ban Hawaiian pizza. The comments were made during a Q&A with Canadian students, who questioned him about the divisive topping.
Johannesson said that he was “fundamentally opposed” to the topping, sparking outrage in Canada, where Sam Panopoulos was said to have invented the pizza in 1962. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got involved.
I have a pineapple. I have a pizza. And I stand behind this delicious Southwestern Ontario creation. #TeamPineapple @Canada
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 24, 2017
Johannesson was forced to back down at the time, but some Canadians said he didn’t go far enough.
“I like pineapples, just not on pizza,” he wrote on Facebook following the incident. “I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza. I am glad that I do not hold such power. Presidents should not have unlimited power. I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I don’t like. I would not want to live in such a country.”
Speaking to CBC this week, Johannesson finally apologised.
“I had to think it through and sort of calm these stormy waters and I issued a statement, a presidential statement, on pineapples on pizza,” he said. “As much as I do not like pineapple on pizza, the individual freedom of having the topping of your choice overrides that.”
"That's where the influence of this office sort of, yeah, got the better of me. I went a step too far."
However, he still does not like pineapple on pizza, saying that it goes “all sort of mushy,” and would much rather prefer seafood.
