Helsingin Sanomat has published grossly racist messages that Minister of Economy Wille Rydman allegedly sent to his ex-girlfriend. Rydman writes on X (formerly Twitter) that he is considering reporting the newspaper to the police.
The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has taken notice of and published messages from 2016 that Minister of Industry Wille Rydman (Sannf) is said to have sent to his girlfriend at the time. The messages are permeated with racist language.
Rydman has neither given a comment to Helsingin Sanomat nor to Yle Uutiset, but he has expressed himself on X.
"Desert Monkeys" and "Somali Lilies"
When Rydman is said to have sent the messages, he was 30 years old and a Member of Parliament for the Samlingspartiet. He also sat on both the constitution committee and the administration committee.
The messages are thus all from a conversation between Rydman and his ex-girlfriend. She is the one who shared them with Helsingin Sanomat.
Svenska Yle has chosen to publish the quotes because the matter concerns a person in a position of power at ministerial level and the language used then becomes socially relevant.
Swedish Yle has not seen the original message chain. All messages in this article are translated by the editor.
Helsingin Sanomat states that the newspaper has reviewed them in their original context.
In a conversation about flower planting, Rydman compares the lily of the valley to Somalis: " But when that damn lily of the valley has once been planted here on the plot, it is suddenly everywhere and reproduces like Somalis. So if you want Somali lilies of the valley in the flower bed, there are enough here, and they can be moved.”
In other messages that Rydman allegedly sent to his girlfriend, he called people from the Middle East, or other people of other ethnic backgrounds, " incomprehensible monkeys" and "desert monkeys" .
In the same year, it was reported that employers in Belgium might ban Muslims from wearing headscarves in the workplace. According to HS, Rydman commented on the news like this: "I would still rather ban those who use a headscarf than the headscarf itself" .
Shared Islamophobic lyrics
Besides that, Rydman also shared racist content created by others, including a rewritten version of Jukka Kuoppamäki's 1970s song Sininen ja valkoinen . The true Finnish 21st century version is about a Muslim who has left his homeland.
It is the true Finnish Member of Parliament Juho Eerola who is behind the new lyrics, which he has also confirmed to HS.
While Kuoppamäki's original text celebrates Finland's nature, Eerola pursues the beliefs of a Muslim immigrant and claims that he has raped a woman.
In 2016, Eerola was chairman of the management committee, where Rydman then represented the Samlingspartiet as a member. Eerola is said to have given the text to Rydman written down by hand on the back of an agenda.
According to HS, Eerola sees no problem in the fact that the lyrics were copied either before or after a committee meeting where the two men, among other things, dealt with draft laws regarding international protection, victims of human trafficking and the Aliens Act:
"We have artistic freedom, of course you can write," says Eerola to HS.
Calling himself a Nazi
In an exchange of messages between the then girlfriend and Wille Rydman, the girlfriend writes that she "secretly likes Hebrew names" and that she would like to name a future son Immanuel in other names.
To that Rydman replies:
"We Nazis don't really like that Jewish stuff."
Yaron Nadbornik, chairman of the Central Council of Jewish Congregations in Finland, commented on the HS article on Thursday evening. On X, he writes that he and the Jewish community have never received anything other than support and help from Rydman.
"It pays to look for Jew-hatred elsewhere. Rydman has been our friend for several years and in my opinion he still is.”
Considering a police report
Wille Rydman does not want to comment on the messages to either HS or Yle. On X, he still writes that he does not want to explain away messages that he may have sent several years ago, because that would legitimize the article and the publication of the messages.
Rydman also writes that he is considering taking the newspaper to court over the article. It wouldn't be the first time.
The police are currently conducting a preliminary investigation into an investigation request submitted by Rydman. Last year HS published an article about harassment allegations against Rydman . Then, among other things, they had interviewed the same ex-girlfriend who has now shared the messages with them.
Purra: A politician also has his private circles
True Finns' chairman Riikka Purra tells Yle Uutiset that Rydman's messages are irrelevant, but that it is a matter of a private conversation between two people who were in a relationship at the time.
"I neither can nor want to take a position on something like that. A politician is a public figure, but also has his private circles," Purra writes to Yle.
According to her, it is clear that the goal is to harm Rydman, given previous experiences between the parties involved.
The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has taken notice of and published messages from 2016 that Minister of Industry Wille Rydman (Sannf) is said to have sent to his girlfriend at the time. The messages are permeated with racist language.
Rydman has neither given a comment to Helsingin Sanomat nor to Yle Uutiset, but he has expressed himself on X.
"Desert Monkeys" and "Somali Lilies"
When Rydman is said to have sent the messages, he was 30 years old and a Member of Parliament for the Samlingspartiet. He also sat on both the constitution committee and the administration committee.
The messages are thus all from a conversation between Rydman and his ex-girlfriend. She is the one who shared them with Helsingin Sanomat.
Svenska Yle has chosen to publish the quotes because the matter concerns a person in a position of power at ministerial level and the language used then becomes socially relevant.
Swedish Yle has not seen the original message chain. All messages in this article are translated by the editor.
Helsingin Sanomat states that the newspaper has reviewed them in their original context.
In a conversation about flower planting, Rydman compares the lily of the valley to Somalis: " But when that damn lily of the valley has once been planted here on the plot, it is suddenly everywhere and reproduces like Somalis. So if you want Somali lilies of the valley in the flower bed, there are enough here, and they can be moved.”
In other messages that Rydman allegedly sent to his girlfriend, he called people from the Middle East, or other people of other ethnic backgrounds, " incomprehensible monkeys" and "desert monkeys" .
In the same year, it was reported that employers in Belgium might ban Muslims from wearing headscarves in the workplace. According to HS, Rydman commented on the news like this: "I would still rather ban those who use a headscarf than the headscarf itself" .
Shared Islamophobic lyrics
Besides that, Rydman also shared racist content created by others, including a rewritten version of Jukka Kuoppamäki's 1970s song Sininen ja valkoinen . The true Finnish 21st century version is about a Muslim who has left his homeland.
It is the true Finnish Member of Parliament Juho Eerola who is behind the new lyrics, which he has also confirmed to HS.
While Kuoppamäki's original text celebrates Finland's nature, Eerola pursues the beliefs of a Muslim immigrant and claims that he has raped a woman.
In 2016, Eerola was chairman of the management committee, where Rydman then represented the Samlingspartiet as a member. Eerola is said to have given the text to Rydman written down by hand on the back of an agenda.
According to HS, Eerola sees no problem in the fact that the lyrics were copied either before or after a committee meeting where the two men, among other things, dealt with draft laws regarding international protection, victims of human trafficking and the Aliens Act:
"We have artistic freedom, of course you can write," says Eerola to HS.
Calling himself a Nazi
In an exchange of messages between the then girlfriend and Wille Rydman, the girlfriend writes that she "secretly likes Hebrew names" and that she would like to name a future son Immanuel in other names.
To that Rydman replies:
"We Nazis don't really like that Jewish stuff."
Yaron Nadbornik, chairman of the Central Council of Jewish Congregations in Finland, commented on the HS article on Thursday evening. On X, he writes that he and the Jewish community have never received anything other than support and help from Rydman.
"It pays to look for Jew-hatred elsewhere. Rydman has been our friend for several years and in my opinion he still is.”
Considering a police report
Wille Rydman does not want to comment on the messages to either HS or Yle. On X, he still writes that he does not want to explain away messages that he may have sent several years ago, because that would legitimize the article and the publication of the messages.
Rydman also writes that he is considering taking the newspaper to court over the article. It wouldn't be the first time.
The police are currently conducting a preliminary investigation into an investigation request submitted by Rydman. Last year HS published an article about harassment allegations against Rydman . Then, among other things, they had interviewed the same ex-girlfriend who has now shared the messages with them.
Purra: A politician also has his private circles
True Finns' chairman Riikka Purra tells Yle Uutiset that Rydman's messages are irrelevant, but that it is a matter of a private conversation between two people who were in a relationship at the time.
"I neither can nor want to take a position on something like that. A politician is a public figure, but also has his private circles," Purra writes to Yle.
According to her, it is clear that the goal is to harm Rydman, given previous experiences between the parties involved.
