Madison Burgess
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has’ unequivocally’ apologised over comments he made about singer Kylie Minogue on a podcast last week.
The 63-year-old politician made the controversial remarks during his appearance on the Bush Deep podcast with comedian Nikki Osborne.
During a rapid-fire section of the lighthearted 20-minute interview, Albanese was asked who he would ‘shag, marry, or date’ out of Minogue, actress Nicole Kidman, and entertainer Rhonda Burchmore.
Initially reluctant to respond, he said, “I just got married, I’m only six months in,” to which Osborne urged: “But if it goes t**ts up, let’s just pretend.”
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The Aussie PM responded: “Kylie, clearly,” to which Osbourne asked: “You’d marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her?”
Albanese said ‘all of the above,’ adding that ‘she’s terrific’.
Following backlash, he issued a one-line statement on Monday (6 July), in which he said: "I apologise unequivocally for the comments".
It came after the clip quickly did the rounds on social media, prompting a wave of backlash from the public and other politicians.
One X user wrote: “Oh god, poor @kylieminogue, so sorry you and the rest of Australia can't unhear that.”
While a second added: “Is this how a PM behaves now! Crass and unacceptable. It's not funny at all.”
And a third demanded: “This is our countries PM....what the hell are you thinking Australians.”
Others brutally chimed in with: “Embarrassing embarrassment of a prime minister. Disgusting human being” and “Appalling. This is the Prime Minister of Australia. Just resign.”
Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson wrote on social media that Albanese’s comments were ‘disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demean the office of Prime Minister’.
She wrote on X: “Comedian Nikki Osborne is very good at her craft and cleverly skewered the Prime Minister throughout her interview.
“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 continued: “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.”
Meanwhile, Community Strong MP Zali Steggall said that the PM’s comments were ‘entirely inappropriate’ and that he ‘needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist’.
And Andrew Bragg, a Liberal senator, added tha the PMs comments were ‘beneath his office’ and agreed that ‘he shouldn’t have said them’.
Albanese married his partner, Jodie Haydon, in Canberra last November, making him the first Australian leader to tie the knot in office.