Married Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese broke his silence Monday after he was heavily criticized for revealing on a podcast he would have sex with pop star Kylie Minogue.
“I apologize unequivocally for the comments,” the pol, 63, said.
Albanese, who tied the knot in November last year, raised eyebrows when he was asked by “Bush Deep” podcast host Nikki Osborne who he would have sex with, marry, or date out of Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore.
“I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in,” Albanese initially said in the episode published Friday, refusing to take the bait.
“But if it all goes t-ts up, let’s just pretend,” Osborne said, trying to get an answer out of Australia’s Labor Party leader.
“Kylie clearly,” Albanese then fessed.
“You’d marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her?” Osborne said.
“All of the above,” Albanese replied, without saying the word “shag.”
Minogue hasn’t commented – but Albanese was slammed by Australian politicians. Sarah Henderson, Australia’s shadow communications minister, said “Australians deserve better” in a stinging rebuke. “Rather than politely decline to engage, Mr Albanese got into the gutter with his grubby remarks, which show extremely poor judgement at a time when trust in Labor is collapsing,” she said.
“Mr Albanese’s crude locker room talk makes a mockery of Labor’s claim to be champions of women. How low can this prime minister go? Australians deserve better than this.”
Zali Steggall, a MP for Australia’s Community Strong party, said the pol’s answer was “entirely inappropriate.”
“He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist,” she said.
Stegall warned Albanese’s comments were “beneath the office of prime minister,” Rolling Stone reported.
Melinda Tankard Reist, who spearheads the Collective Shout movement, an organization that campaigns against the objectification of women, said the comments were “beneath” Albanese, News.au reported.
“I don’t care if you’re trying to reach a younger audience,” she said.
“It’s beneath him as a man, as a leader of this country especially, and it sets a very bad example. The bar is already low and this has taken it even lower.”
Richard Marles, Australia’s deputy PM, said Albanese is “utterly committed” toward women. “From time to time, we do interviews which are obviously different to the one that you and I are doing now,” he told ABC radio.
“But I think the other point we need to make here … is the government that the Prime Minister leads is the first government in our nation’s history which has had equality in terms of women and men in cabinet.”
Albanese became Australia’s first prime minister to marry while in office when he wed Jodie Haydon in Canberra last November.
With Post wires
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