Danish PM says sorry to Inuits forcibly moved to Denmark

Yahoo – AFP, March 9, 2022 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said sorry to the Inuits at an
emotional ceremony in Copenhagen (AFP/Liselotte Sabroe) (Liselotte Sabroe)

Denmark's prime minister apologised in person Wednesday to six Greenlandic Inuits removed from their families and taken to Copenhagen more than 70 years ago as part of an experiment to create a Danish-speaking elite. 

"What you were subjected to was terrible. It was inhumane. It was unfair. And it was heartless", Mette Frederiksen told the six at an emotional ceremony in the capital. 

"We can take responsibility and do the only thing that is fair, in my eyes: to say sorry to you for what happened," she said. 

In the summer of 1951, 22 Inuit children between the ages of five and eight were sent to Denmark, which was Greenland's colonial power at the time but has since gained autonomy. 

The parents had been promised their children would have a better life, learn Danish and return to Greenland one day as the future elite, in a deal between authorities in Copenhagen and Nuuk, the Greenland capital. 

In Denmark, the children were not allowed to have any contact with their own families. After two years, 16 of the group were sent home to Greenland, but placed in an orphanage. 

The others were adopted by Danish families. Several of the children never saw their real families again. 

An inquiry into their fate concluded more than half were very negatively affected by the experiment. 

Only six of the 22 are alive today. 

"It was a big surprise for me when I realised that there were only six of them left, because they were not that old," their lawyer Mads Pramming told AFP. 

"They told me that the others had died of sorrow," he added. 

The PM's apology is "a big success for them", he said, two weeks after they each received financial compensation of 250,000 kroner (33,600 euros, $37,200). 

"First they got an apology in writing, and then the compensation for the violation of their human rights, and now they will have a face-to-face," with the prime minister, Pramming said. 

"Nothing had happened until now and it's you, Mette, who took the initiative to set up a commission two years ago", one of the six, Eva Illum, said. 

In December 2020, the prime minister offered the six an official apology.

9,000 died in Irish homes for 'illegitimate' infants: report

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, January 12, 2021 

A shrine inTuam commemorates up to 800 children who were allegedly
buried at the site of a former home for unmarried mothers run by nuns

Some 9,000 children died in Ireland's "mother and baby homes", where unmarried mothers were routinely separated from their infant offspring, according to an official report published Tuesday. 

Ireland's Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (CIMBH) found "disquieting" levels of infant mortality at the institutions, which operated in the historically Catholic nation as recently as 1998. 

Studying such homes over a 76-year period through 1998, the CIMBH determined that 9,000 children died in them, or 15 percent of those who passed through. 

The homes -- run by religious orders and the Irish state -- housed unmarried women who became pregnant, were unsupported by partners and family and faced severe social stigma. 

Children born in the institutions would often be separated from their mothers and put up for adoption, severing all family ties. 

Prime minister Micheal Martin said the CIMBH report "opens a window onto a deeply misogynistic culture in Ireland over several decades". 

"We had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction," he added. 

Martin -- who will make an official state apology on the matter in Irish parliament on Wednesday -- said the high infant mortality was "one of the most deeply distressing findings" of the report. 

"One harsh truth in all of this is that all of society was complicit in it," Martin said. 

"We are going to need to confront and come to terms with this as a people." 

'Forced adoption' 

The CIMBH was established in 2015, after an amateur historian uncovered evidence of a potential mass grave of infants at one such home in the west Ireland town of Tuam. 

Irish premier Micheal Martin will make an official state apology over
 "mother and baby" homes

But survivors' group Irish First Mothers said the report "fails to find that mothers were coerced into giving up their children", which it said was the "most grievous injury" inflicted by homes. 

The group said the report "absolved both the Church and state of any systemic responsibility for what it admits is the effective incarceration of pregnant mothers". 

The CIMBH report says 56,000 unmarried mothers and 57,000 children passed through the homes examined. 

"By the 1960s most women placed their child for adoption and left a mother and baby home within a few months of giving birth," it said. 

It said "some of this cohort of women are of the opinion that their consent was not full, free and informed." However, it added, "with the exception of a small number of legal cases, there is no evidence that this was their view at the time of the adoption." 

Many of the women received little or no ante-natal care. 

The report gave no single explanation for the deaths, but said "the major identifiable causes... were respiratory infections and gastroenteritis." 

It also highlighted a total of seven unethical vaccine trials on children in the institutions between 1934 and 1973. 

Meanwhile women of the period who gave birth outside marriage were "subject to particularly harsh treatment" at the hands of families and partners, backed by both Church and state. 

Women entered the homes mostly because they had "no alternative" and many suffered "emotional abuse", it said. 

"The atmosphere appears to have been cold and seemingly uncaring," the study said.

Anglican Church must confront all aspects of its past: leader

MSN – AFP, 9 July 2020

The leader of the worldwide Anglican communion on Thursday called on followers to acknowledge all aspects of the Church of England's past, both good and bad, as his new number two was sworn in with little of the usual high ceremony.

Stephen Cottrell has been sworn in as the 98th Archbishop of York.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said followers had to confront the church's troubling historical "baggage" as they looked to make a better future.

The Church of England's highest-ranking cleric was speaking in a virtual ceremony to mark the formal election of Stephen Cottrell as the 98th Archbishop of York.

The Church of England, established in 1534 after king Henry VIII's split from Roman Catholicism, last month apologised for its links to slavery, calling it a "source of shame".

The apology came against a backdrop of anti-racism protests in Britain and across the world, sparked by the death during the police arrest of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in the United States.

Welby said the Church's past included both "saints and slave traders".

"Living as Christians requires us to live not only in fellowship with Christians around the world but also with the Church throughout time," he said.

"With the Church of England, we know that some of those bring baggage. We find saints and slave traders, the proud and prelatical, with the humble servant of the people.

"They are part of us, of our inheritance, to be reformed, to be repented of, to be imitated."

Churches across Britain have been shut since late March because of the coronavirus outbreak, forcing services to be held online.

Restrictions are gradually being eased, but remain in place for large church services.

Open doors

Measures to halt the close-contact spread of the virus have forced the postponement of Cottrell's enthronement but one aspect was retained in the ceremony.

After receiving his archbishop's crozier, he ceremonially banged three times on the west door of York Minster, the northern English city's imposing Gothic cathedral.

The doors were then opened to symbolise the Church being open to all.

The 61-year-old takes over from Britain's first black archbishop John Sentamu who fled Idi Amin's Uganda and became a leading voice against racial injustice.

Cottrell, who was previously Bishop of Chelmsford in southeast England, has previously promised to use his new role to help soothe divisions following years of political turmoil over Britain's departure from the European Union.

He has also said he hoped to "address the discrepancies of wealth and opportunity", including working with government to rejuvenate northern England.

He said he was daunted but excited about taking up the position, which dates back to Saint Paulinus in the year 627.

And he called for the lessons of the coronavirus outbreak to be learned, "to build a better world, a fairer world, a more just world... where status and privilege don't count so much, where everybody has an equal opportunity".

"We want this (pandemic) to end but we don't want to be back to normal," he added.

Elite UK school Eton to apologise to ex-pupil for racist abuse

Yahoo – AFP, 23 June 2020

The head of Britain's Eton College said Tuesday he will invite back a black former student to apologise in person for racism he experienced at the top fee-paying school in the 1960s.

England's Eton College has become a byword for elitism and the class divide

Simon Henderson said he wanted Dillibe Onyeama to feel welcome after he was previously banned from visiting Eton for writing a book about the racist abuse he faced there.

"We have made significant strides since Mr Onyeama was at Eton but... we have to have the institutional and personal humility to acknowledge that we still have more to do," Henderson said in a statement.

"We must all speak out and commit to doing better -- permanently -- and I am determined that we seize this moment as a catalyst for real and sustained change for the better.

"I will be inviting Mr Onyeama to meet so as to apologise to him in person, on behalf of the school, and to make clear that he will always be welcome at Eton."

The school's move follows anti-racism protests across Britain, sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during a police arrest in the United States.

The demonstrations have focused renewed attention on racism in Britain, as well as the toxic legacy of its colonial past, including calls for it to be taught in schools.

Nigerian writer Onyeama, who graduated from Eton in 1969, wrote a book about his experiences at the exclusive private boys' school, near Windsor, west of London.

The school has become a byword for elitism and Britain's class divide.

Annual fees cost more than £42,000 ($52,000, 46,000 euros) per year. Old boys include Prime minister Boris Johnson, and princes William and Harry.

Onyeama told the BBC he had been taunted on a daily basis by fellow students, and asked questions like "why are you black?" and "how many maggots are there in your hair?"

When he struggled in academics or flourished in sports, the students attributed it to his race, while when he excelled in exams he was accused of cheating, the broadcaster said.

After detailing his experiences in a 1972 memoir, he received an official letter informing him that he was banned from visiting Eton.

Onyeama said although the apology now was not necessary, it "compels the recognition that prejudice on the grounds of colour or race dehumanises its victims in a way that ordinary forms of prejudice do not".

He added that his overall experience at Eton was "positive".

Henderson said he was "appalled" to learn of the racist abuse Onyeama faced, and his "absolute priority" was to make Eton an "inclusive, compassionate and supportive community for all".

"Racism has no place in civilised society, then or now," he added.

Two priests should be tried in altar boys abuse case: Vatican

Yahoo – AFP, September 17, 2019

Pope Francis has apologised for predatory priests but cover-ups in the
Vatican have severely damaged trust (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Vatican City (AFP) - An Italian priest accused of sexually abusing altar boys in a seminary and another priest who allegedly facilitated that abuse have been referred to Italian justice, the Vatican said Tuesday.

A statement said the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice has recommended that Father Gabriele Martinelli stand trial over charges of sexual abuse, and that Father Enrico Radice also be tried over charges of covering it up.

The alleged abuse took place at the pre-seminary of St Pius X, an institution located on Vatican grounds that trains altar boys and is very close to Pope Francis's residence.

"The investigation was launched in 2017 following press reports," the Vatican said.

Martinelli was a seminarian and aged 21 when the alleged abuse took place and was in charge of training the boys.

A Polish roommate of one of the victims said he had witnessed repeated sexual assaults, according to Italian media.

He along with two other seminarians denounced Martinelli to superiors and also in a letter written to cardinals.

The alleged abuse was the subject of 2017 book called "Original Sin" by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

Nuzzi said the young seminarian, who lived there between the ages of 13 and 18, was sent back in 2014 after sounding the alarm on the alleged abuse.

The seminarian claimed that Martinelli came to his room to have sexual relations with his roommate -- who was then aged 17.

He claimed he had witnessed such acts up to 140 times and that Martinelli used "power and intimidation" to impose his will on young seminarians.

The Polish man, who says he is gay, accused the priests of double standards, saying: "During the day, they are homophobes and at night they unwind in gay discos."

Pope Francis has apologised for predatory priests but cover-ups in the Vatican have severely damaged trust in the centuries-old institution, and there is still much to be done to protect minors from clerical paedophiles.

In May, the pontiff passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light.

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

".... Let me tell you what else is in the field. Two things: These are going to be things that exist now in the field and they are upcoming potentials. The reason I give you these potentials is so if they happen, just like the handshake, you might believe a little more in this process.

There will come a time when Big Pharma will fall over because of a growing higher consciousness of the public. [Applause in the audience] There is a consciousness growing here that begins to have a new respect for each other, so that abuse of women will no longer be tolerated. Things that never happened before will begin happening, like bishops and cardinals resigning. [All 34 bishops in the Catholic Church resigned May 2018 after the new wild card pope called them on their reaction to child abuse for years by their colleagues.] All the things my partner brought today [in the seminar] are actually happening now. Why should some of these drug companies fail? Because there will be a strong reaction from your general public when they realize there are companies that have policies that would keep a Human sick or let him die for money. [Applause in the audience] It would be unconscionable, and the potential grows stronger daily that it's going to happen. The trigger? It's coming. When it does, that industry will be in trouble. Not all pharma is this way, dear ones - understand this - but the ones who are will fall. ..."

Germany asks Polish forgiveness 80 years after WWII outbreak

Yahoo – AFP, Anna Maria Jakubek and Stanislaw Waszak, September 1, 2019

"We want to, and we will, remember. And we will bear the responsibility that our
history imposes upon us," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
(AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.

Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.

That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Polish.

"I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness," Steinmeier said at pre-dawn ceremonies in the western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell 80 years ago.

"It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself," Steinmeier said alongside his Polish counterpart.

Polish Andrzej Duda said the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak 

of WWII will "go down in history of Polish-German friendship" (AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

The line appeared to be a reference to the German far-right, whose co-leader Alexander Gauland once called the 12-year Third Reich a "speck of bird poop" on an otherwise glorious German past.

Polish President Andrzej Duda for his part denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, calling it "an act of barbarity" and "a war crime" but also hailed post-war reconciliation.

Duda later on Sunday slammed recent Russian military attacks against its neighbours as "imperialist tendencies" at state ceremonies in Warsaw attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.

Sanctions

The Polish leader did not specifically name Russia, but referenced Moscow's actions against "Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 that altered borders."

He urged "the leaders of Europe and the world, NATO and EU members" to guard against appeasing aggressors.

Tadeusz Sierandt, an eyewitness to the bombing of Wielun, holds a picture 

of the destroyed town (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"There must be sanctions, resolute actions, it must be obvious that any military aggression will be met with a firm reaction," Duda said.

"Closed eyes are not a good recipe for keeping the peace; it's a good way to encourage aggressive personalities, to give the green light for new attacks."

Polish authorities said they had not invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sunday's ceremonies because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"80 years after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, let us remember the explosion of the Second World War that devastated our Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.

"The fight for peace and our values is more important than ever," he added.

Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came one week after Berlin and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Eastern Europe between them by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Hitler's attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939, led Britain and France to declare 

war on Nazi Germany (AFP Photo)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a separate dawn remembrance ceremony on Sunday in Westerplatte, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on a Polish fort 80 years ago to the day.

'Demand compensation'

Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.

After the Nazis tore up their pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although it has been 80 years since the war started, there are still unresolved matters according to Poland, which says Germany owes it war reparations.

Map showing the start of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. (AFP 

Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

A parliamentary commission is currently working on a new analysis of the extent of Poland's wartime human and material losses.

"We have to talk about, remember and demand the truth regarding those losses. We have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said on Sunday at the Westerplatte ceremony.

When it comes to reparations, however, Berlin believes the case is closed.

US President Donald Trump had planned to attend the war commemorations but cancelled at the last minute so that he could monitor Hurricane Dorian.

"We love our Polish friends, and I will be there soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday, confirming a visit was still in the offing.

King Willem-Alexander starts off the festivities. Photo: Anneke Janssen via HH

Related Articles:

Kings and World War II veterans mark the start of 75 years of freedom

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Danish PM apologises for historical abuse in children's homes

BBC News, 13 August 2019

The prime minister addressed a room filled with dozens of victims of abuse in
state-run homes

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has officially said sorry to hundreds of victims of historical abuse in state-run homes.

From 1945 to 1976 children were sexually abused, beaten and drugged at the homes, an official inquiry found.

The abuse took place across Denmark and campaigners have for years appealed to the state to accept it was at fault.

"The apology means everything. All we wanted was peace of mind," said one of the victims, Arne Roel Jorgensen.

The sixty-eight-year-old told the BBC how the lives of many of the children had been ruined by the abuse. Alcohol, drugs, multiple jobs and failed marriages had all taken their toll.

• Norway backs down in child welfare scandal
• Victims of sexual abuse take on Poland’s Catholic Church
• UN 'gravely concerned' over UK child abuse

The Social Democrat prime minister met dozens of victims of the scandal at her official residence at Marienborg on Tuesday.

"I would like to look every one of you in the eyes and say sorry," she told them. "I can't take the blame but I can shoulder the responsibility."

Many were in tears as she said that children had been taken from their parents and instead of getting support and warmth, they received humiliation and abuse.

The prime minister hugged Poul-Erik Rasmussen, who campaigned for years
for an apology

"The authorities did nothing. As a society, we cannot and must not close our eyes," she had said earlier.

How did the abuse come to light?

Details about the homes first hit the headlines in 2005, when a Danish TV documentary featured shocking allegations of abuse and mistreatment from victims of the state-run Godhavn Boys' Home, in north-eastern Denmark.

Emotions were high as details of what had happened in state homes were read out

The documentary also uncovered evidence that a psychiatrist had tested drugs on some of the children. Bjorn Elmquist, then an MP who had already been working on the abuse cases, said the drug LSD had been used to counter bed-wetting, leading to many of the children later becoming drug addicts.

Soon after the programme, the National Association of the Godhavn's Boys was formed and an independent inquiry was conducted in 2010.

The report, published in 2011, investigated allegations of abuse and neglect at 19 homes for both boys and girls, interviewing children, staff and state inspectors.

Despite its limited scope, it documented "alarming physical, sexual and psychological abuse" and researchers found blood traces on a gymnastic horse, indicating children had been beaten on it.

Mr Elmquist, now a lawyer, said many of the victims felt great shame over what had happened: "Some of them contacted me and begged me not to have their names mentioned publicly."

He spoke of boys working in fields who were punished by adults using metal tools and of the overweight master at Godhavn having his own special form of punishment. "He pushed them with his big stomach and they fell down the staircase. He put them on a sofa and sat on top of them and jumped on them," he told the BBC.

Poul-Erik Rasmussen said the state had accepted responsibility but the pain and
nightmares would never leave

Arne Roel Jorgensen found out three years ago that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of what had happened to him many years ago.

"Many of us have had failed marriages and we didn't learn how to act in society because nobody told us. I'm 68 now and definitely still living with the effects."

What now?

Nobody was ever prosecuted for what took place at the homes and successive governments decided the case was too old to be pursued. Before she was elected in June, Ms Frederiksen promised she would apologise for the state's role.

Media captionMette Frederiksen became Denmark's youngest leader back in June

Poul-Erik Rasmussen, who was at Godhavn in the early 1960s, has fought for years to secure an apology and always felt that recognition was the main aim.

Many of the victims have made a point of not asking for compensation but Mr Rasmussen says he can understand anyone who wants it.

Bjorn Elmquist believes a commission and a fund should be set up to assess compensation, as he considers the abuse a clear infringement of the convention of torture that was incorporated into Danish law in 1984.

"It's not just a case of saying sorry," he says.

Ballon D'Or host apologises as 'twerk' request causes storm

Yahoo – AFP, 4 December 2018

Norwegian forward Ada Hegerberg (R) stands alongside French DJ and
producer Martin Solveig (L) after receiving the 2018 women's Ballon d'Or award

French DJ Martin Solveig apologised and said he was taken aback by the stormy reaction online after he asked the inaugural women's Ballon D'Or winner Ada Hegerberg whether she could "twerk" live on stage.

The awards co-host in Paris provoked a torrent of complaints about sexism with his question about the sexually suggestive dance, which received a blunt "No" from the unamused Norwegian striker.

The incident was a major talking point despite Hegerberg's achievement in becoming the first winner of the women's Ballon D'Or, an award which has been handed to male footballers since 1956.

Solveig, a musician and radio host, apologised in person to Hegerberg and said he was "astonished" at the reaction.

"Guys I'm a little bit amazed, astonished by what I'm reading on the internet," he said in a video posted on Twitter.

"Of course I didn't want to offend anyone... This was a joke, probably a bad one and I want to apologise for the one I may have offended."

As footage of the incident went viral, British tennis player Andy Murray led the backlash when he thundered: "Why do women still have to put up with that shit?"

"What questions did they ask (Kylian) Mbappe and (Luka) Modric?" he posted on Instagram, referring to the winners of the best young player and the men's Ballon D'Or.

"I'd imagine something to do with football.

"And to everyone who thinks people are overreacting and it was just a joke... it wasn't. I've been involved in sport my whole life and the level of sexism is unreal."

Hegerberg, 23, whose goals propelled Lyon to a record fifth Champions League title and their 12th consecutive domestic crown, played down the controversy and said it hadn't marred her evening.

"I didn't feel it was like that at all to be honest and I am sad if people thought about the situation like that," Hegerberg said after the show.

She added: "He came to see me after and apologised. The Ballon d'Or is the most important thing."

Before the ceremony, Hegerberg told The Guardian that she found it "really frustrating" that sport remains "such a man's world".

"Sometimes it's really frustrating, I must say. Sometimes you have episodes or situations where you feel like, damn, we're in such a man's world," she said in an interview.

"But at the same time I've never looked at myself different from men's football. I've always felt the same -- I work hard to try to achieve my dreams, like every other girl out there."

Factfile on #AdaHegerberg, the winner of the first women's #BallonDor https://t.co/v3H3tqeMU4 pic.twitter.com/9jKgwgDDEO

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 4, 2018