By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2026-08-10 11:05:58 | Updated at 2026-08-10 13:26:15
2 hours ago
Anthony Albanese is facing growing pressure to offer an official apology to the Japanese Prime Minister after joking about her “melons,” but he is insisting he wasn’t referring to her breasts.
Liberal leader Angus Taylor weighed in on the row on Monday, insisting that the crass podcast was unbecoming of the office.
“The comments were beneath the office of prime minister,’’ he said.
“They were insulting, and the prime minister should make a personal apology. He’s done it through a statement. I mean, the hypocrisy of Labor and the prime minister on this topic knows no bounds, no bounds whatsoever,” he said.
Anthony Albanese has furiously denied making a crude joke about Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s “melons” in the same interview where he admitted he would “shag” Kylie Minogue.
It’s the first time that the Prime Minister has offered an official response to the “melons” issue.
He previously apologized for his remarks about Kylie Minogue after he was asked about her on Nova’s podcast Bush Deep with Australian comedian Nikki Osborne.
During the innuendo-laden interview, Mr Albanese stated that Ms Takaichi had brought “a couple of melons,” before making a squeezing hand gesture in front of his chest.
Ms Osborne then jokingly replied: “She brought two. She just came in looking like Pamela Anderson.”
But in a terse statement on Monday, the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman denied the comments were a joke about breasts, stating, “This assertion is wrong.”
But the claim didn’t wash on Sunrise, with host Nat Barr grilling Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek and Barnaby Joyce about the podcast.
The controversy has been reignited after Tokyo’s former ambassador in Canberra, Shingo Yamagami, penned an opinion piece slamming the “insulting” comments and speculating they have damaged the Prime Minister’s standing in Japan.
“However lighthearted it was intended to be, the recent joke delivered by PM Anthony Albanese at the expense of Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi is how he might be remembered by Japanese who most value the friendship with Australia,” he writes in the Australian.
“It is a time for toiling and not for crude jokes at another’s expense.
“So, Prime Minister, please enjoy Japan’s sweet and juicy melons without thinking about a woman’s anatomy, and instead focus on what our two countries must do together.”
The former spy boss added in his opinion piece that melons were highly prized in Japan.
“A crown melon is the most prized fruit in Japan and treasured as something special. Moreover, this particular fruit was painstakingly nurtured under intensive care in a special greenhouse. A single melon costs more than 30,000 yen ($270).”
Sunrise erupts over melons
On Sunrise, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek attempted to argue the segment wasn’t an extended joke about breasts.
“We’ve got the former ambassador saying the prime minister, please enjoy these melons,’’ host Nat Barr said.
“No, I think he is 100 percent wrong, and we have an excellent relationship with Japan,’’ Ms Plibersek replied.
“I think the former ambassador is wrong in his interpretation.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said it was “a really dangerous thing to say.”
“I know you’re doing the best job you can on this, Tanya, but it’s just like the Kylie Minogue comment – completely wrong, completely trying to be clever. It wasn’t clever,’’ he said.
He suggested the PM was trying to get on the right side of “the kiddies on a podcast where someone’s dressed up-I don’t know-some sort of elephant fighter or whatever.”
“It just demeans the office of prime minister, and it certainly has created a massive problem with one of our major partners. I know in your heart, Tanya, you know it’s wrong.
“Okay? And if you came out now and said, “Yeah, that was a stupid thing to say. You should have apologized for it. People say, “Tanya, it’s telling the truth.”
Ms Plibersek insisted it was a “complete misinterpretation from the former ambassador completely unnecessary interpretation.”
“People watching it for themselves can make their own minds up,’’ she said.
“They do,’’ Mr Joyce responded.
“They do watch it, and they have made up their own mind. And it is inappropriate.”
‘Shag’ game
During the podcast, Osborne and the Prime Minister played a game of the classic Aussie pastime ‘shag, marry or date’.
Host Osborne asked the PM: “Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Rhonda Burchmore?”
After a brief pause, Mr Albanese tried to play things safe, saying: “I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in …”
But Osborne was having none of it, and she quickly fired back: “But if it goes t*ts up?”
“Kylie, clearly,” he replied.
“You’d marry Kylie? And shag her? And date her?” questioned the host.
“All of the above,” Mr Albanese said, letting out a little giggle. “She’s terrific.”
Mr Albanese did not utter the word “shag” himself. He simply said: “All of the above. She’s terrific.”
Last month, the Prime Minister’s office released a statement saying Mr Albanese apologized “unequivocally for the comments.”
Federal MP Zali Steggall slammed the remarks as “entirely inappropriate for the Prime Minister.”
“He needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist,” she said.
Liberal frontbencher Sarah Henderson said the comments were “disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians, and demean the office of Prime Minister.”
