'Avoid getting drunk': Rape remarks by Italy PM Meloni's partner sparks row

The partner of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has faced allegations of engaging in victim-blaming due to statements he shared concerning rape during his television talk show. Andrea Giambruno, the host of the show “Diario del giorno” (Daily Diary) on the Rete 4 commercial station, made these remarks in relation to a high-profile case of a young woman who was gang-raped in Palermo, Sicily “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. 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, reported Reuters. Since Meloni became head of the government last October, Giambruno’s TV career has flourished. He asserted that his remarks, which sparked a “surreal” controversy, were distorted by being taken out of their original context. “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. Meloni has not commented on the situation. With inputs from agencies