Not long after the president's comments were made public, #PineappleOnPizza began trending on Twitter, reigniting an old and futile debate about the validity of the fruit as a pizza topping.READ MORE: Meet the Netherlands' Biggest Pineapple Obsessive
Would you put strawberries, oranges or banana on pizza? #NotMyPizzaTopping #PineappleOnPizza
— blanco (@bchrhlldy) February 21, 2017
Intrigued, MUNCHIES Denmark editor Lars Hinnerskov Eriksen reached out to Jóhannesson to find out why the hell he went on a pineapple tirade in front of a bunch of high school students, and received a prompt response.PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA IS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT : https://t.co/VlcWQX2OZe #pineappleonpizza
— Yemisi Adegoke (@briticoyemo) February 21, 2017
Apparently, President Jóhannesson was joking and quickly backtracked from a full-on pineapple-on-pizza ban, perhaps concerned about the political capital incurred by taking sides on such a controversial issue. Thankfully, because of the division of powers, the President of Iceland doesn't have the power to pass laws unilaterally, nor does he have the inclination to issue shotgun-blast executive orders like his American counterpart.But as we have seen stateside, we have to hold truth to power when a president speaks about bans, even if it's just over Hawaiian pizza."Dear Mr. Eriksen The President of Iceland Guðni Th. Jóhannesson asked me to convey to you the following: Dear Lars, Thanks for the email. The pineapple comment was just a tongue-in-cheek joke, or a joke attempt, at a high-school meeting. I have no problems with news generating from it. I am not going to add to the debate myself, however :) Best wishes, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson Forseti Íslands | President of Iceland"