Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese broke his silence Monday after facing heavy criticism for revealing on a podcast that he would have sex with pop star Kylie Minogue. The 63-year-old politician, who married his wife last November, issued an apology for the remarks.
Apology and Context
“I apologize unequivocally for the comments,” Albanese said. The controversy began when he appeared on the “Bush Deep” podcast hosted by Nikki Osborne. Osborne asked Albanese who he would have sex with, marry, or date among Minogue, Nicole Kidman, and Rhonda Burchmore. Initially, Albanese declined to answer, stating, “I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in.” However, after Osborne pressed him with “But if it all goes t-ts up, let’s just pretend,” Albanese replied, “Kylie clearly.” When Osborne asked if he would “marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her,” Albanese responded, “All of the above,” without using the word “shag.”
Political Backlash
Minogue has not commented on the remarks, but Albanese faced sharp criticism from Australian politicians. Sarah Henderson, Australia’s shadow communications minister, said, “Australians deserve better. 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. 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, an MP for Australia’s Community Strong party, called the answer “entirely inappropriate” and said, “He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist.” According to Rolling Stone, Steggall warned that Albanese’s comments were “beneath the office of prime minister.”
