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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was ridiculed after he promised players for the soccer team Monza—which he's owned since 2018—that he would "bring a bus of whores into the locker room" if they beat a top rival.
The populist political leader made the remark during the soccer club's Christmas dinner. A video published to social media quickly exposed him to heavy criticism online.
You can hear what Berlusconi said in the video below.
\u201cSilvio Berlusconi (Monza owner): "I motivate the players. Now you have matches against Juve, Milan, etc, if you win against one of these big teams I'll send into dressing room a bus full of sluts." \ud83d\ude33\n\nhttps://t.co/PBCPakUWE2\u201d— SPORTbible (@SPORTbible) 1671015278
Berlusconi said:
“I told the guys … now you will play Milan, Juventus. If you win against one of these top teams, I’ll bring a bus of whores into the locker room."
The misogynistic remark was greeted with laughter by the audience.
Berlusconi later doubled down in a post on Instagram calling his comment "locker room talk."
He wrote:
“Frankly I did not think, and I doubt anyone could imagine, that a simple ‘locker room talk’ comment that was a joke and clearly paradoxical, which I said to my Monza players, could spark responses that are as malevolent as they are banal and unrealistic."
“I feel sorry for these critics. Perhaps it is their absolute lack of humour that makes them so sad and also so gratuitously nasty in attacking those they consider to be enemies."
"But it is Christmas. So I wish them all the best too."
You can see his post below.
Berlusconi's justification for the joke as simple "locker room talk" is very much a callback to the same defense then-candidate Donald Trump used to describe his words in a now-infamous Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about grabbing women without their consent.
His comments did not go over very well and he has been harshly criticized.
\u201cThe fact this guy still hasn't been hanged like Mussolini is concerning, what's going on Italians, why did you stop doing the good praxis?\u201d— Alex (@Alex) 1671100521
\u201cJerkiness is forever.. \ud83d\ude44\u201d— Petri Sintonen (@Petri Sintonen) 1671031197
\u201cThis disgusting scumbag\u201d— Muhammad Ariff (@Muhammad Ariff) 1671033420
\u201cAbsolutely disgusting comments from a former Italian president. The retweets are just as bad. \n\nThis narrative and language is unacceptable.\u201d— David Jenkin (@David Jenkin) 1671051039
\u201cHow is this fella still going? Like how is Berlusconi still Berlusconiing all these years later?\u201d— red scare (@red scare) 1671023932
\u201cDude has always been crazy\u201d— Demigod (@Demigod) 1671049397
\u201cWell. He sure hasn\u2019t changed a bit.\u201d— Dave Tyahla (@Dave Tyahla) 1671028078
\u201che means it literally, sexist pig\u201d— Tani Beth (@Tani Beth) 1671034711
The 86-year-old Berlusconi is a billionaire media tycoon who served as Prime Minister across four separate governments. He was convicted of tax fraud in 2013 and subjected to a short-lived public service ban; he currently serves in the Senate.
His controversial comments were an unsavory reminder of the time he was accused and initially formally convicted of paying an underage prostitute for sex. She told authorities that Berlusconi had paid her $10,000 for parties at his private villas.
Berlusconi appealed a 7-year prison sentence and his conviction was overturned, allowing him to return to public office.