Monza President Silvio Berlusconi insists he ‘could never imagine’ anyone could be offended by his suggestion he’d reward the squad with ‘a busload of wh***s’ for a good result.
Speaking at the club’s Christmas dinner, Berlusconi took the microphone and showed some of the bawdy humour that has unfortunately become his trademark over the years, both as a football chief and in his role at the very top of Italian politics.
He is back in Government now and so the comment was met by even more consternation.
After decades of ‘jokes’ and incidents far worse than this, Berlusconi is steadfast in his refusal to learn any lessons.
“Frankly I did not think, and I doubt anyone could imagine, that a simple ‘locker room talk’ comment that was a joke and clearly paradoxical, which I said to my Monza players, could spark responses that are as malevolent as they are banal and unrealistic,” wrote Berlusconi on social media today.
“I feel sorry for these critics. Perhaps it is their absolute lack of humour that makes them so sad and also so gratuitously nasty in attacking those they consider to be enemies.
“But it is Christmas. So I wish them all the best too.”
Many of the comments pointed out that Berlusconi may as well have been serious, considering as a Prime Minister he faced trial for having what he referred to as ‘bunga bunga parties’ in 2010 that included an underage prostitute known as Ruby Rubacuori.
Berlusconi was initially found guilty and banned from holding elected office, but that was overturned on appeal.