Australia’s prime minister refuses to apologise to Japanese counterpart over melon gaffe

Anthony Albanese facing criticism after appearing to joke on a podcast about a gift of melons from Sanae Takaichi Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls to apologise to Japan’s prime minister over a joke he made about melons on a satirical podcast, amid a media frenzy and accusations of sexual innuendo. Government MPs have defended the prime minister as criticism mounted over last month’s remarks, branded by the Coalition opposition as “grubby”. Assistant minister Pat G...

By Josh Butler

Albanese refuses to say sorry for ‘insulting’ melon joke about Takaichi

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sidestepped calls to apologise on Tuesday after a clip emerged of him engaging in crude banter about a gift from his Japanese counterpart. Albanese had already faced a backlash and apologised over comments made during an interview last month with the Bush Deep podcast in which he said he would “shag” singer Kylie Minogue. But separate comments during that interview in which he joked about a gift from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during her...

By Agence France-Presse

Australian PM urged to apologise over joke about melons gifted by Japan’s Takaichi

Anthony Albanese appeared to gesture in front of his chest while talking about the gift on a podcast last month

By Stuti Mishra

Albanese shrugs off calls to apologize over Japanese PM ‘melon’ joke

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls to apologize to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi over crude remarks made during a podcast about a gift of premiu...