Partner of Italy PM Meloni faces backlash over rape comments: ‘Avoid getting drunk’

Andrea Giambruno condemned for TV comments seen to be victim blaming – with calls for Ms Meloni to distance herself from the remarks

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni (AP)

The partner of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of victim blaming after comments he made about rape on his television talk show –

Andrea Giambruno, who hosts the Diario del giorno [Daily diary] programme on the Rete 4 commercial station, was commenting after a high-profile gang rape case in the Sicilian capital Palermo.

"If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk - there shouldn't be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem - but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf," he said in his programme earlier this week.

Opposition politicians condemned the comments.

"I say to Giambruno that boys should be educated to show respect, rather than girls taught to be careful. Teach them [males] the value of consent, rather than girls to be wary," said Cecilia D'Elia, a senator with the opposition Partito Democratico (PD).

The opposition Five Star Movement party (M5S) said in a statement that “Giambruno’s words are unacceptable and shameful” and “they represent a male-dominated and retrograde culture”.

Mr Giambruno, whose television career has taken off since Ms Meloni became the head of a hard-right government last October, said his comments had been taken out of context to create a "surreal" controversy.

"I didn't say that men are free to rape women who are drunk," he told Corriere della Sera in an interview on Wednesday.

"Some politicians are jumping on a false headline and calling for my suspension, but for what reason? For having told young people not to take drugs?" he added. He also said that "rape is an abominable act".

Ms Meloni, who has a young daughter with Mr Giambruno, has not commented on the situation, but she has been called on to distance herself from the comment.

It is not the first time that Mr Giambruno's comments have caused controversy.

In July, he told Germany's health minister, Karl Lauterbach, to "stay at home, stay in the Black Forest" – after Mr Lauterbach questioned the viability of tourism to southern Europe because of intense heat waves.

Reuters