Billy Long’s prospects of becoming ambassador to Iceland hit a stumbling block this week, as the former Missouri congressman had to apologize Thursday after facing backlash for his comments suggesting the country should become a U.S. state, with him serving as governor.
Long, in an interview with Arctic Today, a non-profit Alaska-based digital news publication that covers the Arctic region, apologized for joking with former colleagues in the U.S. House that Iceland will become the 52nd state, after America takes over Greenland.
The comments set off a firestorm of criticism in the Arctic nation, where Long was nominated to serve as ambassador after stepping down from his leadership role at the Internal Revenue Service last year.
The Icelandic Foreign Ministry confirmed to Politico that it contacted the U.S. embassy in Reykjavík seeking clarification about the comments. And a member of Iceland’s ruling party said Long’s statement must be taken seriously and represented a fundamental disrespect for the sovereignty of small nations.
“There is no doubt that this is very serious for a small country like Iceland. We need to understand that all the security arguments made by the U.S. regarding Greenland also apply to Iceland,” Viðreisn Sigmar Guðmundsson, a member of Iceland’s parliament, told a local newspaper.
Icelanders launched a petition urging Foreign Minister Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to reject Long as ambassador. It currently has 2,000 signatures.
Long told the editor of Arctic Today that he was not serious when he made that statement. It was a joke, he said, about Jeff Landry, President Donald Trump’s U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland, becoming governor of Greenland.
“I was with some people, who I hadn’t met for three years, and they were kidding about Jeff Landry being governor of Greenland,” Long told Arctic Today, “and they started joking about me. And if anyone took offense to it, then I apologize.”
Long acknowledged that the reaction was justified, given the tensions internationally regarding Greenland.
Long, a former auctioneer and talk radio host who represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the IRS in June. Two months later he was pushed out with little explanation and nominated instead to be ambassador for Iceland. He has not yet been confirmed by the Senate for that job.