A lawyer commenting on the recent decision of the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland (ÁTVR) to ban the sale of Motörhead shiraz said that there are clearly too many employees at the institution.
As reported ÁTVR rejected a request from a seller to begin importing and selling Motörhead shiraz, listing as the primary reason: “The name of the band is a reference to users of the illegal drug amphetamine, and the lyrics of the band’s songs are regularly about war, the abuse of power, irresponsible sexual activity and drug abuse.”
The importer who made the request, Hjörleifur Árnason, has been baffled by the response and the story itself has picked up considerable traffic in Iceland. Lawyer Sveinn Andri Sveinsson also commented on the case, Vísir reports, speaking in his characteristically blunt style.
Speaking on the radio show Reykjavík Siðdegis, Sveinn Andri said that employees of ÁTVR travel to wine areas in other countries, clearly spending their time pondering the names of wines.
“This tells you that there are too many employees at ÁTVR,” he said. “You just need to cut the staff in half, and then they’ll stop thinking about what’s in the lyrics to songs by a band called Motörhead. It’s surreal. It does not hold up to any law to deny the importing of a wine based on the name on the label.”
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