Culture Minister Parisa Liljestrand (The Moderate Party) drew great attention when she was booed during her opening speech at the Gothenburg Film Festival in January. Among other things, she directed a jibe at the Guldbagge Awards, where she had been teased a few weeks earlier for cutting too much in the culture budget.
In the speech, she also said that politics' task is to stand up for its priorities and not to count up grants and be "the best buddies of the industries".
Now, Liljestrand explains in Gothenburg Post's podcast "The Power with Carlsson Tenitskaja" that she just wanted to joke – primarily with the Guldbagge Awards:
You have to have a bit of humor and be a bit playful. That tone should be in society at a respectful level. I have no problem with people joking at my expense and then I think you can be a bit humorous in return in a speech, she says in the podcast.
