'Better to be passionate about girls than be gay': Berlusconi faces down his opponents over latest scandal



Passionate about girls: Karima Keyek, the 17-year-old Moroccan model linked with Italian PM Berlusconi

Scandal-hit Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi raised eyebrows when he told an audience: 'It’s better to be passionate about beautiful girls than be gay.'

Berlusconi, 74, spoke out after it emerged that belly dancer Karima Keyek, 18, had spent the evening at his house when she was just 17 and was given cash, a diamond necklace and a car by him.

However she has insisted that no sex took place between them and that the perma-tanned media tycoon turned politician was 'like a father' to her the whole evening.

But questions have been raised about the relationship after it emerged that in May Berlusconi called Milan police and asked for Miss Keyek to be released after she was arrested for stealing €3,000 from a friend.

He wrongly told police that she was a relative of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and she was subsequently released from custody - prompting suggestions Berlusconi had abused his power of office.

Speaking at a motorcycle exhibition in Milan today, Berlusconi said: 'I work extremely hard and if every now and then I look at the face of a beautiful girl then it’s better to be passionate about beautiful girls than gay.'



His comment was greeted with roars of laughter from the crowd while La Repubblica newspaper in its online version of the incident said:



'Dealing with the delicate episode that has hit him Berlusconi chooses to tell a joke.'



Opposition politicians have called for Berlusconi to resign, and even centre-right commentators have criticized him.





Berlusconi's comments were also criticised by Mara Carfagna, the Equal Opportunities Minister within his own cabinet who said: 'What he said was a joke at the end of a serious speech. He didn't mean to offend homosexuals or women.



'This government has shown its commitment against discrimination and because of this perhaps its better that we don't make such jokes.'



Former model Miss Carfagna was herself involved in a controversy with Berlusconi three years ago when he told her 'if I wasn't married I would willingly run off with you.'



Then his comments enraged his long suffering wife Veronica Lario, who demanded and got, a public apology from a shame faced Berlusconi but they are now divorcing.



Actress Julianne Moore also commented on Berlusconi's comments.



Miss Moore, who was in Rome to collect an award, said: 'I think something like that is archaic, wrong and idiotic.



'We live in an era where things like that count for nothing and there are many significant homosexual personalities - that's why it is an embarrassing, sad and archaic thing to say.'



Dodgy dealings? Silvio Berlusconi is alleged to have called Milan police after Miss Kayek was detained in connection with a theft. He told police she was related to the Egyptian president

Opposition MP Donatella Ferranti from the Democratic Left said: 'Not only was it homophobic but it was also clearly an attempt to shift attention from the current scandal he is involved in with a minor.'



But Berlusconi insists that the scandal has all been 'cooked up by left leaning prosecutors and the media' to over throw him and he told crowds: 'Don’t read newspapers, they just misinform you.

'Despite all the attacks we have achieved so many goals and we have the majority to continue until the end of our term in office.'



Speaking of the Miss Keyek affair he said: 'Wait and see, it will all be sorted out and blown over. I was just helping someone out and there was nothing else to it.



'I would have been ashamed if I hadn't done it but I did do it and I will carry on doing it because that is how I am.'

Paolo Patane, of Italian gay rights group Archigay slammed Berlusconi for his comments and said: 'It’s just backwards, offensive machismo that is vulgar and gratuitous not only to homosexuals but also to women.

'What he said shows a complete lack of respect for the dignity of people and confirms the climate of embarrassment that is surrounding the Prime Minister at the moment and which is dragging the country down.

'Berlusconi should apologise immediately and especially with homosexuals and women because what he said does no justice to someone who is supposed to be the head of a European government.'



Miss Keyek - whose stage name Ruby Rubacuori translates as Ruby Heartbreaker - says she is planning to write a book about her life and will also talk about Berlusconi.

'Like a father to me': Karima talks by phone in a exclusive interview for the Italian talk show 'Ultima Parola'. She said of Berlusconi: 'We don't make sex...he, like a gentleman, help me in a bad moment.'

The scandal is the latest in a series that began 18 months ago when it was revealed that Mr Berlusconi had a questionable relationship with 19-year-old underwear model Noemi Letizia.

Escort girl Patrizia D'Addario then revealed she was among several call girls who had been invited to parties hosted by Mr Berlusconi and she had spent the night with him.

In another interview due to be published this week in Italian magazine Oggi, Miss Keyek will reveal how she became pregnant and later went on to have an abortion.



She also tells the magazine how she had ‘sat next to Silvio’ at the Valentine’s Day dinner and that he had later taken her to the ‘floor above because he wanted to help me’.



She adds that she is ‘not a call girl, apart from one night in a hotel with a Chinese man for 1,000 euros which came to nothing’.



Italian escort girl Patrizia D'Addario, involved in a scandal with Berlusconi, disembarks from a boat as she arrives at the Venice film festival. Right, 18-year-old Noemi Laetizia, who was also involved with the Italian prime minister at the same event in 2009



Corriere Della Sera, Italy’s respected leading daily newspaper, has reported that she is living temporarily in the home of a porn movie director in Genoa.



When contacted by the Daily Mail yesterday, she said: ‘How much are you going to pay me? I want to be paid. I will tell you everything that happened from A to Z but you have to make me an offer first.’



The scandal is the latest in a series that began 18 months ago when it was revealed that Mr Berlusconi had a questionable relationship with 19-year-old underwear model Noemi Letizia.



Escort girl Patrizia D’Addario then revealed she was among several call girls who had been invited to parties hosted by Mr Berlusconi and she had spent the night with him.

