Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “unequivocally” apologized for comments he made about pop star Kylie Minogue in a podcast interview last week.

The frontman had appeared on the Bush Deep podcast with comedian Nikki Osborne, who asked him to place celebrities Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore in “a meeting, a marriage or a date” as part of the 20-minute interview.

After initially trying to avoid the question, Albanese said, “Oh, Kylie, clearly.”

He was quickly met with a wave of backlash, with some MPs calling his comments “completely inappropriate” and another adding that they were “disrespectful of women… and degrading of the office of Prime Minister”.

Osborne, best known for posting crude comedy sketches on YouTube, launched her podcast series earlier this year. Her podcast site describes her as a “wildly inappropriate journalist” who asks “questions no one else would dare.”

In a one-line statement issued early on Monday, the prime minister said: “I unequivocally apologize for the comments.”

Albanese made the comments over the weekend during an interview that took place at the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra.

After Osborne first posed the question, Albanese, who married his partner Jodie Haydon in November, initially responded: “I’ve just been married, I’ve only been married for six months.”

But after being prodded by Osborne, he added: “Oh, Kylie, sure.”

“Would you marry Kylie, sleep with her, and date her?” Osborne said.

“All of the above,” Albanese said. “She’s great.”

Community Strong MP Zali Steggall said the comments were “totally inappropriate” and added: “You need to learn how to respond, lead by example and call it out as sexist”.

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson said in a post on X that the comments were “disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demeaning to the office of Prime Minister”.

Richard Marles, acting prime minister while Albanese is visiting the Pacific, told the ABC that the government was “fully committed” to the elevation of women in society.

“From time to time, we obviously do different interviews than what we’re doing now, but I think the other point to make here is that the government that the prime minister leads is the first in history that has had equality in terms of the number of men and women in the cabinet,” Marles said on the station’s National Breakfast Radio program.

Albanese was also asked about the worst gift he had received on a trip abroad. He said a “strange” but ultimately “pretty good” gift came from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who brought two melons, to which Osborne responded that she had “arrived looking like Pamela Anderson.”