An online campaign has started that protests the hiring of blogger and author Egill Einarsson, better known as Gillzenegger, or simply Gillz.
Gillz has built a career of sorts in playing up to stereotypes about the club-going, ever-tanned gym rat – known as a “hnakki” in Iceland. Much of the attention he received arose from the blog Kallanir (“The Guys”). He eventually went on to write two books, and is often featured in Fréttablaðið’s back page gossip column.
However, Gillz has not been especially popular with many Icelandic women. Most notably because of what he has written about important female figures in this country. He has targeted female politicians such as Steinunn Valdís Óskarsdóttir in particular and feminists in general, saying that they need to be fucked. Many of these blog entries were deleted after receiving media attention, and Gillz has said that they were just bad jokes.
When Gillz was selected to author the upcoming phone book, an online campaign, both on Facebook and in an online petition, began that saw hundreds of people sign up within days, protesting the hiring and pulling their phone numbers out of the directory.
Sigríður Margréti Oddsdóttir, the director of the telephone directory service Já, told Vísir that they are sorry if anyone is offended by his hiring, but that “he has a sense of humor about himself.” She added that the next phone book will not just be a book full of numbers but “positive and fun” things to read.
Gillz has repeatedly denied that he is sexist, telling Vísir most recently, “I love all women. My own mother’s a woman!”