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The reigning Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, has lost her title and crown due to a racism scandal, the organisers of the beauty pageant announced.
They said at a press conference on Thursday that they accepted no form of racism or discriminatory behaviour and apologised for the incident in a statement.
Tara Lehtonen, who finished in second place in the competition, has already been chosen as the new Miss Finland.
“I promise to carry this title with pride and deep respect,” the woman from Helsinki pledged on social media.
Dzafce was crowned Miss Finland in September.

According to the broadcaster Yle, she recently faced a backlash on social media after a questionable photo of her appeared on an online platform.
In the photo, the young woman is seen pulling her eyes with her fingers.
She accompanied it with a caption that, according to Yle, meant something like “going to eat with a Chinese person”.
The gesture was widely interpreted as derogatory to Asian people.
Dzafce initially defended the gesture by saying she was merely massaging her temples and widening her eyes due to “severe headaches”.
However, at the press conference, she apologised for the incident, particularly to Asian people.
“Racism is in no way acceptable,” she said.

Dzafce added that she would be taking a break from social media.
“I’ll think 10 times before posting anything in future,” she said at the press conference, according to a report by the Helsinki Times. “I need time to focus on my well-being.”
According to the Times, Dzafce and Lehtonen, 25, embraced at the event before the title was handed over.
Lehtonen said she had known about the controversy but had not expected matters to escalate to such a degree, the Times reported. She told journalists that she got a surprise call at work asking if she would accept the title.
“I had to pause for a moment to process the question,” she said, according to the Times. “I wasn’t prepared for it.”
The last time a reigning Miss Finland passed on her title was in 2011, when Pia Lamberg resigned, citing dissatisfaction with the organisation. The title then went to Sara Sieppi, the first runner-up.


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Sarah Dzafce apologised after a photo surfaced of her making a gesture seen as derogatory to Asian people


Sarah Dzafce apologised after a photo surfaced of her making a gesture seen as derogatory to Asian people.


Anti-Asian racism

Finland

Nordic countries

Nordic nations

Miss Finland loses her crown due to anti-Chinese racism scandal

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sarah Dzafce apologised after a photo surfaced of her making a gesture seen as derogatory to Asian people

Sarah Dzafce apologised after a photo surfaced of her making a gesture seen as derogatory to Asian people