Iceland sacks director over offensive comments about Wales

Iceland has sacked its director of corporate affairs, Keith Hann, after he made a series of offensive comments about Wales. 

Hann who joined the supermarket in 2017 was fired from his position after he stated on Twitter: “Your periodic reminder that the inhabitants of the UK’s Celtic fringe loath all visitors, in and out of lockdown.”

The comment which referred to people travelling to Wales has since been deleted and Hanns has made his account private. 

Previous statements made by Hanns have also since resurfaced with the BBC reporting that in a personal blog post written in 2017, he described the Welsh language used in supermarkets as “incomprehensible” and called it a “dead language that sounds uncannily like someone with bad catarrh clearing his throat”.

In a similar blog post, which has also been made private, the director described the language as “gibberish”.

A spokesperson for Iceland told Retail Sector: “Iceland has taken action in light of recent comments made by its director of corporate affairs, resulting in the dismissal of Mr Hann with immediate effect. 

“We would like to reiterate that these comments in no way reflect the values or philosophy of our business. We are a proud Welsh company, with a long history of investment in communities across Wales, and apologise for any upset or offence caused.”