The Ukrainian ambassador demanded a public apology from SVT after a joke in "IFS – immigrants for Swedes".
Now the SVT programme is cleared by the Broadcasting Commission.
In "IFS – immigrants for Swedes", author Elaf Ali joked that it was clear that Ukrainians must be the group that had received the most residence permits in Sweden in 2022.
This prompted the Ukrainian ambassador, Andrij Plachotnjuk, to contact SVT and request a public apology.
"I believe that such statements are deeply offensive and completely unacceptable", the ambassador wrote on X.
The ambassador never received an apology from SVT, and now the programme is cleared by the Broadcasting Commission for radio and TV, which notes that over a hundred people contacted the Media Authority with criticism of the segment.
"IFS – immigrants for Swedes" is a programme whose idea is to joke about stereotypes and prejudices about different groups of people and cultures.
"Against the backdrop of the programme format and with regard to the extensive freedom of expression, the Commission believes that the joke in question did not cross the boundary of what can be accepted", the Broadcasting Commission writes in a press release.
