強豪に勝てば「売春婦」連れてくる─ベルルスコーニ氏、批判の声も一蹴

【ミラノＡＦＰ＝時事】イタリア・セリエＡ、ＡＣモンツァのオーナーで元伊首相のシルビオ・ベルルスコーニ氏（８６）が、選手たちに今後の上位クラブとの対戦で勝利した際には「バスいっぱい」の売春婦を連れてくると約束したことが明らかになった。（写真は、シルビオ・ベルルスコーニ氏）
　ベルルスコーニ氏は、１３日に行われたスポンサーや選手を招いたクリスマスディナーの席で、１月４日のシーズン後半戦開始を前に選手たちに「極上の励まし」を与えようと冗談を飛ばした。
　今季セリエＡに初昇格したモンツァは、１月にユベントスやインテル、２月にはベルルスコーニ氏がかつてオーナーだったＡＣミランとの対戦を控えている。
　ディナーの席上でのスピーチでベルルスコーニ氏は、「もしあのトップチームの一つに勝ったら、バスいっぱいの売春婦をロッカールームに送り込もう」と述べて笑いを誘った。その様子は後にソーシャルメディア上に投稿された。
　ベルルスコーニ氏は先ごろ上院議員に選出され、ジョルジャ・メローニ首相率いる右派連立政権で一翼を担う政党の「フォルツァ・イタリア」で党首を務めている。
　１４日には「五つ星運動」の女性議員が下院議会で、同国初の女性首相であるメローニ氏に、「こういった恥ずべき言葉を」どう考えているかと質問。また、元下院議長のラウラ・ボルドリーニ氏は、「冗談に見せかけた下品な性差別」とツイッターに投稿した。
　その後ベルルスコーニ氏はＳＮＳ上で、自身のスピーチは「ロッカールームでの冗談に」すぎないとし、批判してきた人には「ユーモアが欠けている」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/12/16-17:59）

Monza owner Silvio Berlusconi said he has promised his players a busload of prostitutes if they win one of their upcoming clashes with Serie A's leading lights, including his old club AC Milan.
Speaking to sponsors and a players' delegation at a Tuesday night Christmas dinner, the ex-Italian prime minister joked he wanted to give his players extra encouragement before the second half of the Serie A season beginning on January 4.
Monza face Juventus -- in both league and cup -- and Inter Milan next month as they restart their first ever season in Italy's top flight, with the visit of champions AC Milan coming in mid-February.
If they manage to beat one of those great teams I'll send a busload of hookers to the dressing room, Berlusconi said in a speech which was greeted with laughter and later posted on social media.
The 86-year-old tycoon was recently elected as a senator in the Italian parliament and leads the Forza Italia party, a partner in the coalition government led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
On Wednesday, the Five Star Movement's Emma Pavanelli asked in Italy's Chamber of Deputies what Meloni, the country's first woman prime minister, thinks of those shameful words.
A former president of the parliament's lower house and current MP, Laura Boldrini, blasted vulgar sexism passed off as banter.
Obscene comments, made even more despicable by the fact they were uttered by a senator of the republic and a party leader, Boldrini said on Twitter.
Berlusconi later said on social media that he regretted comments that were as malevolent as they were insignificant, calling them mere dressing room banter and saying his critics lacked humour.
Monza declined to comment on Berlusconi's speech when contacted by AFP.
Berlusconi is still associated in Italy and abroad with Rubygate, a series of libertine parties he organised with young women, some of whom were minors.
He was acquitted of underage prostitution charges but remains on trial for witness tampering in that case.
Berlusconi bought Monza in 2018 for a reported three million euros with the club in the third tier.
The previous year he had sold Milan, who during his 31-year ownership became one of the titans of European football, for 740 million euros.
Monza sit 14th in Serie A after 15 games, nine points above the relegation zone, ahead of their first match of 2023 at Fiorentina.