Eigin Konur, a popular Icelandic podcast hosted by feminist influencer Edda Falak, recently featured a guest whose candid recounting of sexual violence she reportedly experienced at the hands of several prominent men has led to these men either taking, or being told to take, leaves of absence from their positions, RÚV reports.
Vítalía Lazareva appeared on the podcast, published to YouTube on January 4th, and recounted two instances of sexual violence she was subjected to. In the first instance, she recounted going to a summer cottage with her partner at the time and three other men. At one point, they were all in a jacuzzi, wherein all of these men “really crossed the line” with her.
It has since come to light that these three men were Ari Edwald, the CEO of the company Ísey and a former CEO of 365 Media, a former managing director of Business Iceland, and at one point a minister’s assistant; Hreggviður Jónsson, the chair of Veritas Capital; and Þórður Már Jóhannesson, the chairman of the board of Festi, the fourth largest company in Iceland. The fourth man, Vítalía’s former partner, was Arnar Grant, a prominent trainer who used to work at World Class.
Ari has taken a leave of absence from his position; Hreggviður has resigned; Þórður Már has resigned as well; and Arnar has taken a temporary leave of absence.
In the second incident Vitalía recounted, she talked about going on a golfing trip with Arnar and several others, and that she was violated by a prominent Icelandic media figure in a hotel room she was in with Arnar; that the man in question was invited to do so by Arnar, and he did so. This man was later revealed to reportedly be Logi Bergmann, a veteran TV personality and now a program director at K100. Logi has denied the allegations against him, but has said that he may take a leave of absence.
Edda Falak has been an outspoken feminist, and both she and Eigin Konur have gained significant prominence in Icelandic society, in particular for confronting subjects such as sexual violence against women, misogyny, and other forms of gender inequality.
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