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Obama Sweden visit set to Nazi anthem

TT/The Local/at
TT/The Local/at - [email protected]
Obama Sweden visit set to Nazi anthem
The Swedish queen and king meet the US president last year in Sweden. File: AP

A year-in-review show accidentally used a rendition of the national anthem performed by a Swedish Nazi group to accompany images of US president Barack Obama.

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Sveriges Television (SVT) chose to put imagery from Obama's historic visit to Stockholm last year to the tune of the Swedish national anthem Du gamla, du fria.

The hunt for a "scaled back" version of the song backfired, however, after observers noted the pared-down rendition was recorded by the band Svensk ungdom (Swedish youth). Anti-racism magazine Expo reported that its members have been outspoken Nazis.

Ulf Johansson, publisher of SVT's year-in-review program, told the tabloid Aftonbladet that the producers had wanted a simple version of the anthem. 

"It's obvious that we have made a mistake," Johansson told Aftonbladet, who reported on the blunder on Thursday. "I think it's an embarrassing mistake." 

The news programme has now been temporarily removed from the channel's web-streaming service SVT Play, as editors replace the offending piece of music. 

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