The move prompted criticism from several Norwegian politicians, who described the gesture as a politicization of the Nobel Prize and an insult to its symbolic value. The controversy led the Nobel Committee to issue a clarification emphasizing that while a Nobel medal can be transferred as a physical object, the official title of "Nobel laureate” and the recognition attached to it cannot be transferred or donated to another person.

The incident has renewed broader debate over how Nobel medals have been treated historically and whether similar actions have occurred before. Experts note that while ownership of the medal itself can change hands, the legal and symbolic status of the prize remains permanently linked to the original recipient.

Historical precedents highlight this distinction. In 1943, Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920, gave his medal to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as a political gesture during World War II. Despite the transfer of the medal, Hamsun remained the official laureate in Nobel records.

In a different context, Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, sold his medal at auction in June 2022 for about $100 million, donating the proceeds to UNICEF to support children affected by the war in Ukraine. Muratov’s status as the prize recipient was unchanged.

During World War II, scientists at the institute of Danish physicist Niels Bohr dissolved his Nobel medal, awarded in Physics in 1922, to prevent its confiscation by Nazi authorities. After the war, the Nobel Foundation recovered the gold and reissued the medal.

According to the Nobel Foundation’s statutes, laureates are free to dispose of their medals, diplomas and prize money as they choose. However, the foundation consistently states that the Nobel Prize title and official recognition are strictly personal and cannot be transferred, regardless of who possesses the physical medal.