Australian Prime Minister “Unequivocally” Apologizes for Saying He Would “Shag” Kylie Minogue

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has issued an apology after making ill-advised comments about Kylie Minogue in a recent podcast appearance. The comments came during Australian comedian Nikki Osborne’s podcast Bush Deep, which published its episode with Albanese on July 2nd.

Albanese, a member of the center-left Labor party, elected to drink Canadian whisky and play various party games with Osborne, herself a crude, YouTube-era comedian who bills herself as a “wildly inappropriate journalist” willing to ask “questions no one else would dare.”

At about the 14-minute mark of the podcast, Osborne suggests a game of “marry, shag, date,” offering Australian stars Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman, and Rhonda Burchmore as candidates for Albanese’s romantic interests. The 63-year-old PM bit his tongue at first, sheepishly acknowledging that he had married his wife Jodie Haydon less than a year ago.

“I’ve just got married,” he initially protested. “I’m only six months in.” Osborne played into the dynamic, prodding the PM to reveal his answers. “But if it goes tits up?” Osborne asked. “Let’s just pretend.”

Without another thought, Albanese swiftly answered, “Oh, Kylie, clearly.” Osborne clarified, “You’d marry Kylie? And shag her? And date her?” Albanese confirmed, “All of the above. She’s terrific.”

Following backlash, Albanese issued a one-line statement on July 6th: “I apologise unequivocally for the comments.” Minogue, on the other hand, has yet to publicly address the Australian PM’s remarks.

Albanese’s comments were met by immediate condemnation from many in Australia, including Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson, a member of the center-right Liberal party. “Anthony Albanese’s whisky-fuelled comments on the ‘Deep Bush’ podcast are disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demean the office of Prime Minister,” Henderson wrote on X/Twitter on July 5th.

“Comedian Nikki Osborne is very good at her craft and cleverly skewered the Prime Minister throughout her interview,” she continued. “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. 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.”

Andrew Bragg, a Liberal senator, said Albanese’s comments were “beneath his office.” Community Strong MP (Member of Parliament) Zali Steggall, an independent, described the podcast interaction as “entirely inappropriate,” with a note that Albanese “needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist.”

Richard Marles, acting prime minister while Albanese visits the Pacific, told ABC News the government under Albanese is “utterly committed” to defending and uplifting women. “From time to time, we obviously do different interviews to the one we are doing now, but I think the other point to make here is that the government that the PM leads is the first in history that has had equality in terms of the number of men and women in cabinet,” Marles added.