Ágúst Ólaf Ágústsson Apologises Following Misogyny Allegation By Svandís Svavarsdóttir

Vísir reported this morning that the Minister of Health, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, had accused Ágúst Ólaf Ágústsson, a member of the Samfylkingin party, of “bottomless contempt for women” following a comment made in an interview on Saturday.

In the interview, Ágúst said that the country is really run by Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Independence Party, and not by Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

Svandís described the comments on Twitter as, “Bottomless misogyny. And not for the first time.”

According to Fréttablaðið, Ágúst has since apologised for his comments in a post on Facebook. “I did not intend to criticise or question Katrín’s leadership, which I have great respect for,” he wrote. “But the intention was to criticise the politics of the Independence Party, which I think dominates this government’s emphasis, especially in the budget and financial plan where the Independence Party deals with the issue. But of course Katrín is responsible for this government and this budget, so I would have liked to see greater emphasis on socialism and environmental issues.”

Vísir’s article has also been updated to reflect this apology.

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