Award-winning Malmö band Arre! Arre! have spiced up the live broadcast of P3 Gold Gala, where they won in the category 'Rock/Metal Band of the Year'.
During the gala, female guitarist Matilda “Mattis” Årestad gave a political speech in front of the camera, which culminated in her mooning the crowd.
“I want to thank everyone who hides refugees, everyone who struggles in health care, everyone who works on women's shelters. You are the real heroes. Thank you everyone who votes red. F**k Jimmie!” she roared, taking a jab at right-wing Sweden Democrats perennial leader Jimmie Åkesson.
With those words, the band dropped the microphone and left the stage.
“Of course, we are distancing ourselves from the last statement, but otherwise huge congratulations,” gala host Kodjo Akolor said.
The gibe sparked strong reactions, not only among the Sweden Democrats and their supporters, but also among many others who found it to be in bad taste.
“Lawbreaking and hatred of dissident thinking driven by music and applause. Not very pretty,” Sweden Democrats political spokesman Adam Marttinen wrote on Twitter.
Lagbrott, hat mot oliktänkande påhejat med musik och applåder. Inte speciellt vackert. https://t.co/IcAkjjLbbK
— Adam Marttinen (@AdamMarttinen) 19. tammikuuta 2020
“Wasn't there a party leader who called P3 a 'crap channel'?” journalist Chang Frick asked, referencing a 2018 interview with the very same Jimmie Åkesson, who also called it “left liberal rubbish”.
Var det inte någon partiledare som kallade P3 för en "skitkanal"? pic.twitter.com/QYwh0LLwZH
— Chang Frick (@ChangFrick) 19. tammikuuta 2020
Another one posted a photoshopped image of Åkesson politely declining the offer.
Haha 😂#p3guld
— Micke K (@MickeK69) 20. tammikuuta 2020
👇 pic.twitter.com/nBY9PdwDmz
“Why, why is she like this?” another one asked.
Vaffö, vaffö jör ho på dätte vise? pic.twitter.com/AyAFAOIweg
— Fnissande Katten (@FnissKatten) 18. tammikuuta 2020
However, some were supportive of the mooning.
“The best thing that happened this week! Very nice of Arre! Arre! Enough of mollycoddling with the racists in our society. So nice to hear this in Swedish public service no matter how do they distance from it afterwards,” Daniel Riazat of the Left party tweeted.
Det bästa som hänt denna vecka! Mycket bra ställningstagande av @arrearreband ! 👏🏼❤️
— Daniel Riazat (@danielriazat) 19. tammikuuta 2020
Det räcker med daltandet med rasisterna i vårt samhälle. Så skönt att höra detta i svensk public service oavsett hur mkt avstånd de tar. #p3guld #sdlikamedrasister pic.twitter.com/A2CvCFSex2
To this, one retorted sarcastically: “Yeah, Hitler was also stopped this way”.
Saker ingen människa någonsin sagt, del 1: pic.twitter.com/fHY8mO5tCk
— Steget Efter (@StegetEfter) 21. tammikuuta 2020
Tweet: Things no one has ever said: “I intended to vote conservative, but changed my mind after a leftist woman shrieked and showed her behind during P3 gala”.
However, a January survey by pollster Sifo put the Sweden Democrats at the top with 23.8 percent of the vote, edging out the “red” Social Democrats and the Left at 23.5 and 10.2 percent, respectively.
Many link the recent successes of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, whose support has risen four times over the past decade, with the problems associated with uncontrolled immigration, such as crime, including a record number of shootings and blasts, as well as unemployment and urban blight.
By contrast, the ruling Social Democrats, who have run Sweden on a pro-immigration platform, have dropped to their second-lowest approval rating since Sifo's inception in 1967. The all-time low of 23.2 was recorded in January 2016, following the unparalleled intake of 163,000 asylum seekers in 2015.
