Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson was answering questions at a secondary school in the small northern town of Akureyri last week, when he told pupils he was “fundamentally opposed” to putting pineapple on pizza.
His comments sparked a furore on social media prompting Mr Jóhannesson to clarify that he was glad he didn’t have the power to ban tropical pizza toppings.
In a statement posted on his Facebook on Tuesday the Icelandic President wrote: “I like pineapples, just not on pizza. I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza. I am glad that I do not hold such power.”
He continued. “Presidents should not have unlimited power. I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I don´t like. I would not want to live in such a country.
Adding: “For pizzas, I recommend seafood.”
But for many the pizza saga, which trended on Twitter under the hashtag #pizzagate, seems only to have increased Mr Jóhannesson’s already high popularity, as he amassed a global fan base.
Elisa Marengo, from Italy, posted on Facebook “Italians Do LOVE you, Mr. President!!!”
Alessandro Berlese, also from Italy, agreed adding: “I come from Italy and in our country pineapple pizza is already forbidden by law.”
Mark Lawrence wrote on Twitter: “Iceland’s President has said he would ban pineapple on pizza. The type of guy that should be leading us here in the UK.”
While Conor Singleton posted: “I’m moving to Iceland the president wants to ban pineapple on pizza.
"He sounds like a man who has his head on straight.”
Mr Jóhannesson, 47, has seen popularity ratings of up to 97 per cent since he was elected as president in June.
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