Every so often some news comes down the pipe that we at Not the Bee have to triple-check to make sure we're not getting trolled.
We are pleased to report, however, that this story is 100% true:
Yes, that's Sweden's Minister for Gender Equality and Work Life, Paulina Brandberg. Their gender minister has a banana phobia.
A Swedish government minister's fear of bananas has become a national talking point after emails revealed that such is the strength of her aversion that aides try to clear rooms of the fruit before she enters. ...
Leaked emails this week showed that [Paulina Brandberg's] staff have gone to great measures to ensure she does not come into contact with the fruit.
"Great measures" seems to be an understatement. They're treating this issue like a national security concern:
The correspondence, published by the newspaper Expressen, includes an email to the Swedish speaker's office in September stipulating that 'no traces of bananas must be in the room' before she attended a meeting with a colleague, owing to a 'strong allergy'.
According to other emails, her staff said there must not be any bananas in any of the spaces she entered at an event she was attending. 'We will secure the conference so that there are no bananas,' read the response.
"We will secure the conference so that there are no bananas."
Her staff securing the conference so that there are no bananas:
Brandberg has actually been open about her "fobi för bananer" in the past:
I have a phobia of bananas.
Give the Swedish government credit, they're rallying around their gal:
Sweden's prime minster, Ulf Kristersson, said on Thursday that Brandberg's problem had not affected government work.
'I have all the respect for people who have different phobias,' he said. 'I am disturbed when a hard-working cabinet minister is almost reduced to a phobia and people make fun of it. I think you should be too good for that.'
...
The education minister, Johan Pehrson, a fellow Liberal, said the media attention in response to the revelations was 'absurd'. 'She is a staunch liberal and former prosecutor. Often in cases where she stood on the side of vulnerable women. We should all be able to focus on that instead,' he wrote on X.
Brandberg, meanwhile, "told Expressen that it was an issue she was 'getting professional help with'."
Hope that all gets sorted out for you, minister!
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