NEW DELHI: In a grotesque statement, Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he will bring a bus of whores for his Monza football team if they manage to beat top Serie A rivals like Inter, Milan and Juventus.
A social media post which went viral on Wednesday, Berlusconi said, in a video recorded at a Tuesday Christmas dinner with the Monza players, "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."
Berlusconi, 56, who often uses colourful language, was accused in 2011 of having sex with an underage prostitute at one of his infamous 'bunga bunga' parties. He was acquitted on appeal in 2015 after a judge ruled he had not known she was a minor.
Daniela Sbrollini, a female senator from the centrist opposition Italia Viva party, called it the "usual misogynist language from Berlusconi: a joke in bad taste that leaves you speechless".
Later on Wednesday, Berlusconi wrote on Instagram he could not believe that a "locker room joke" could spark such outrage, which he said was due to the "absolute lack of humour" of his critics.
Monza was promoted to Serie A for the first time last season and defeated Juventus in September. They will play Inter and Juventus again in January and will face Berlusconi's old club AC Milan in February.
Once the most dominant figure in Italian politics, Berlusconi - who owned AC Milan for three decades - bought Monza in 2018. They are currently 14th in the 20-team Italian top division league.
(With inputs from Reuters)
