Ruby, Berlusconi Sex Scandal Rebuttal: At Least I'm Not Gay, Says PM

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been wracked by scandal for over a week centered around a then- 17-year-old Moroccan girl, Karima Keyek. Allegations have surfaced that after the girl was arrested in May for theft, the prime minister may have pressured the Milanese police for her release, including telling them that the girl was Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's daughter.

While no stranger to scandals involving young girls, this episode may cost the PM politically, reports the Independent. The paper quotes parliamentary speaker Gianfranco Fini, a one-time ally of Berlusconi, as saying:

If the allegations are confirmed, the Prime Minister should step down.

If there was that intervention [by the Prime Minister and his office] and if it's true that it was claimed that the girl was the relative of a head of state, then it would indicate a nonchalance; a corruption symptomatic of the use of state office for private gain.

At first Berlusconi, speaking out on the scandal, defended himself by saying, "I love life, I love women." He's now taken a different tack, adding, "It's better to be passionate about a beautiful girl than a gay," reports the AP.

Ruby's often contradictory allegations center around her visits to the PM's luxurious villa, which she has termed "bunga-bunga" parties, according to the Guardian. The girl has denied having sex with the 74-year-old media tycoon.

The PM has been accused of similar events before, including an alleged affair last year with Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model, after he attended her eighteenth birthday party and gave her an expensive gift. Berlusconi denied the affair. The allegations are also being compared with the scandal over Patrizia D'Addario, a call girl who claimed to have been paid to sleep with Berlusconi. The Catholic magazine La Famiglia Cristiana has described Berlusconi's penchant for beautiful women as "a disease, something uncontrollable," reports the Telegraph.

Berlusconi has come under increased political fire recently as a trash crisis in Naples and economic hardship have plagued Italy.

Comments

[Bega]

02:09 PM on 11/17/2010

Finita la opera, Silvio!.

[RobertHenryEller]

04:38 PM on 11/12/2010

Frankly, we wish you were gay, Silvio. As a straight guy, you're pretty embarrassing.

[Andy Wysocki]

01:26 AM on 11/09/2010

He just expressed what every straight men think...Go Berlusconi!!

[sbrannon]

06:14 PM on 11/04/2010

He was begging for fini's help today at the WWI memorial service in Rome. The image fits him perfect!

[Jennifer Mead]

04:30 PM on 11/04/2010

He would fit right in with guys like Gingrich that think they are better than everyone else, especially gays. Welcome to the moral majority.

[keepemguessing]

04:01 PM on 11/04/2010

Berlusconi :"Ruby... call the dr. It's lasted longer than four hours."

[sak]

11:55 AM on 11/04/2010

Sorry, I typed too fast. The kind of hatred that this guy has for gays is promoted by the Catholic church and IS alive and well in the U.S. Supreme Court. We are in big trouble.

[DessLoch]

07:45 AM on 11/04/2010

you may not be, but what you are Berluscummy is a ra c ist, hom op hobic, se xis t pe do ph ile.
And one thing you really are not is decent. Step down now. You are very much what is wrong with Italia.

[Donadio]

05:35 AM on 11/04/2010

PS: This is the video just in case anyone couldn't believe he would possibly say something like that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HXCpY7kqg0

Some of his other fine moments:

When he said Obama will be a good president because he's tan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjhd7SqOOoI&feature=related

When he kept Merkel waiting to talk on the phone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5B3r7Py2h4

When he told a joke about Hitler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIX_EdgndSE&feature=related

When he told a horrible joke during a press conference in Israel. He looked really bad because no one faked laugh like they normally do in Italy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Vt06Iev6c

[Edward Standley]

10:55 PM on 11/03/2010

I have two kids. I know several decent gay dudes. If I had to put my kids in someone's care for a day, who do you think it would be? Berlusconi or someone decent?

[nobodysgirl]

05:33 PM on 11/03/2010

But you are not-so-smart, unenlightened, ugly, and short.

Gay men - be glad; be very glad!

[truthisneeded]

04:24 PM on 11/03/2010

Berlusconi just insulted every citizen of any country that is an ally of Italy and also happens to be gay. Berlusconi just insulted citizens of the US, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Spain, and the list goes on and on.

But hey yes I forgot the US still considers homosexual as second class citizens thanks to the hypocritical churches so I guess Berlusconi is not alone.

[sak]

11:56 AM on 11/04/2010

Just goes to show that anyone can end up leading - and I say that reservedly - a country. You do not have to be smart, cute or moral. We have our own examples of that with the presidency of George Bush.

[UteLemper]

04:06 PM on 11/03/2010

Now watch as he changes the law and makes sleeping with a minor not a crime.

[truthisneeded]

04:25 PM on 11/03/2010

favd and fand

you raise a very good point; berlusconi manipulates the law according to what is convenient to him

[TriniDva]

03:13 PM on 11/03/2010

Not the right thing to say in this politically correct climate, but understandable. The list is infinite for the amount of older men who sought out and deal with younger women. It is less staining on a man's image, as though it is acceptable, even when it is not.
However, being accused of homosexuality is a label that would stick with someone forever, whether it is true or not.

[virginiawest]

02:54 PM on 11/03/2010

and the gay community takes a collective sigh of relief that you are not as well!