Icelandic President Clarifies He Still Hates Pineapple Pizza, But He Respects the Public’s Right to Eat It

Pineapple pizza: It’s polarizing. Photo: Liz Clayman

Of all the pizza toppings out there, pineapple has long been the most polarizing. And now, Icelandic president Guðni Jóhannesson has caused a furor by saying in an interview that he is “fundamentally opposed” to pineapple as a pizza topping. Continuing his remarks, which he made last week, he then said that he would ban the topping if possible, but did not clarify whether he was currently drafting legislation.

Granted, this is not the most inane comment made by a sitting president in recent days, but Jóhannesson nevertheless took to Facebook to post remarks, in both Icelandic and English, that backtracked on his hard-line anti-pineapple stance. Admitting to liking pineapple so long as it’s not on pizza, Jóhannesson writes that he is happy that he doesn’t actually “have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza.”

Further clarifying that he does not aspire to culinary autocracy, he added that he “would not want to live in such a country,” where pineapple pizza could be banned. Instead, he suggests what he says is a superior pizza topping: “seafood.”