'Thoughtless': Miss Universe fallout continues as Finnish PM is forced to apologise for MPs' 'racist' actions

The Miss Universe pageant may have ended weeks ago, but the fallout from the scandal-ridden competition continues.

Finland's Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, has apologised to the citizens of Japan, South Korea and China after three MPs from the populist Finns Party posted photos of themselves pulling their eyes back on social media, seen as a racist gesture towards East Asian people.

Kaisa Garedew, Juho Eerola and MEP Sebastian Tynkkyne claimed to have posted the pictures in support of 2025 Miss Finland contestant, Sarah Dzafce, who was stripped of her title after similar pictures of her pulling her eyes back in a derogatory manner were posted online.

The post was captioned "eating with a Chinese person," sparking intense backlash and leading to her title being stripped.

"I offer my sincere apologies for the recent offensive social media posts made by individual MPs," Orpo said in a statement to the Finnish embassies' social media accounts in South Korea, Japan and China.

"These posts do not reflect Finland's values of equality and inclusion. Racism and discrimination have no place in Finnish society."

He also called the actions of Dzafce "stupid" and "thoughtless."

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But the damage was already done.

The Finnish public broadcaster Yle said it has already put its productions in Japan on hold, while national airline Finnair also said its brand has been impacted.

While Orpo has strongly stressed the trio of MPs do not "represent Finland's position," they had a different reaction.

Eerola offered an apology, while Tynkkynen said they didn't intend to offend anyone, however, Garedew told local media she didn't think he needed to apologise.

The PR nightmare for the country began in the fallout of Miss Finland's posts.

Dzafce claimed the gesture was her reacting to a headache at dinner, saying her friend added the racist caption to the image and posted it without her consent.

She further apologised for the post, adding it "caused ill will in many people".

"That was not my intention in any way," she wrote in an apology on Instagram.

"One of the most important things for me is respect for people, their backgrounds and differences."

It wasn't enough, with her title being taken away and her comments being flooded with people expressing their disappointment.

It's far from the first time the 2025 Miss Universe pageant has made headlines.

Incident after incident plagued the event, as early as when contestants first arrived in Thailand on November 2.

In an event livestreamed on Facebook, Thai Pageant Executive Nawat Itsaraggrisil began accusing Miss Mexico, Fatima Bosch, of failing to participate in promotional material for the host country in the lead-up to the event.

The verbal onslaught took place at a pre-pageant 'sashing' ceremony in front of all the Miss Universe contestants.

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The women did not stand for it, with several getting up and walking out of the ceremony in protest.

The clip went viral and made headlines everywhere, sparking the first of many viral incidents from the event.

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