‘Besides the brothel, you won’t see them anywhere’: a host in Sweden called Ukrainian women prostitutes

In Sweden, journalist Elaf Ali, during a broadcast of the entertainment program “IFS – invandrare för svenskar” (IFS – immigrants for Swedes) on the national channel SVT, referred to Ukrainian women as prostitutes.

This was reported by “Wonderzine Ukraine”.

“They are blond and blue-eyed, so you don’t notice them except in brothels,” the journalist said on the show.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Sweden reacted to the journalist’s comment and called on her to publicly apologize to Ukrainians.

“We consider such statements deeply offensive and absolutely unacceptable, given the circumstances of the full-scale Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which forced Ukrainian women to save their lives and the lives of their children abroad. We call on journalist Elaf Ali to publicly apologize, and the management of SVT channel to take necessary measures to prevent such situations in the future,” the diplomatic statement reads.

The journalist commented that she does not see anything for which she should apologize.

The channel did not react to the journalist’s words and the scandal they caused among the public.

The comments made by the journalist also sparked reactions online. Some citizens of Sweden apologized for the journalist’s words.

Christina Hill, the responsible publisher of IFS and program manager at SVT, stated that they would not punish the journalist.

“No, of course, we will not do that. What was said on the program falls within the framework of freedom of speech,” she said.

Hill acknowledged that people reacted to the comment and emphasized that IFS is a comedy program.

“This is a program that plays with stereotypes and nationality, which we may not be used to hearing in Sweden, and makes humor out of them,” she noted.