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The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, has insanely high approval ratings — a recent poll showed that 97 percent of the country likes what he’s doing — but that could all change now that he’s voiced a strong opinion on a hot button topic: pineapple as a pizza topping. While speaking to a high school class in North Iceland this week, a student asked Jóhannesson whether or not he liked pizza adorned with wedges of the tropical fruit, and he said that he was fundamentally opposed to the notion of savory pies topped with pineapple. What’s more, Jóhannesson also remarked that if he had the power to pass laws on his own, he would ban pineapple as a pizza topping altogether.
In such a dystopian world, Icelandic citizens would be forced to leave the island to get a taste of that sweet-and-salty delight, which was not even invented in Hawaii, but in Ontario, actually. Jóhannesson did not elaborate on just why, exactly, he hates the taste of this combination so damn much. But it is one of the most divisive pizza toppings — and a lot of people really don’t dig it — so perhaps this could even help (or at least help him maintain) his high approval rating.
Update: Jóhannesson responds to the controversy surrounding his pineapple pizza-shaming in a Facebook post, written in both English and Icelandic:
I like pineapples, just not on pizza. 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. For pizzas, I recommend seafood.
• President of Iceland announces that he would ban pineapple as a pizza topping [Iceland Magazine]
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