A man from the West Coast of Sweden has been denied the opportunity to honour US President with a personal number plate spelling 'Trump', as his very name may be perceived as offensive.
According to Swedish national broadcaster SVT, the man, who is a proud owner of a black US-made SUV with a V8 engine, applied to the Swedish Transport Agency for a personal number plate, but got rejected.
“The sign combination you requested can be perceived as offensive”, the Swedish Transport Agency explained in its decision.
According to the authority, number plates with allusions to alcohol, drugs, sex, profanity, religion, politics, sickness or crime are not allowed.
“Personal registration plates must not be offensive or inconvenient. Therefore, signs that are deemed inappropriate are rejected, for example if they contain political messages or offensive words,” Swedish Transport Agency communicator Sofie Andersson explained.
However, the authority is not as certain as to whether a number plate spelling 'Löfven', the name of current Swedish Prime Minister would be similarly rejected.
When confronted by SVT on that matter, Sofie Andersson said that it could be possibly rejected as it may be perceived as a cause of inconvenience. At the same time, she stressed that she cannot make an assessment without an expert investigating the matter closely.
Får inte ha TRUMP som regskylt - "kan uppfattas som stötande" https://t.co/OUWjN2stVD pic.twitter.com/hdrvX8TdOV
— SVT Nyheter (@svtnyheter) 6 сентября 2019 г.
On Twitter, many users pushed back at the perceived injustice.
“TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is real. People panic as soon as they see a red cap”, a user reacted.
TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) är verklighet. Folk får panikångest så fort de ser en röd keps 😂
— 🅹🅾🅷🅽🅽🆈 🅺🅾🅲🅷 🇸🇪 (@BDetector) 6 сентября 2019 г.
“Would it have been OK if it said 'Obama'? Probably, yes”, another one mused hinting at media's inconsistency while covering US presidents.
Hade det varit ok om det stått OBAMA? Förmodligen 😡
— elizabeth (@ElizabethHahita) 8 сентября 2019 г.
“'Putin' would be fine”, another one sniggered.
PUTIN går bra :)
— Kjell Böhlin 🇸🇪️ 🇳🇱️ (@medmanniskan) 7 сентября 2019 г.
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