The Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, has apologised for what looked like a clumsy joke about calling out predatory sexual behaviour after he claimed that accusers only report harassment when their “offender” is “ugly”.
He also noted that men are constantly in danger of facing false accusations, especially when they cannot boast of having good looks.
"That is to say, it is 'harassment' when it comes from an ugly person. But if the person is good looking... they usually do not think it is harassment”, Moreno said at a conference in the Ecuadorian city Guayaquil, as cited by the media.
It was only a matter of time before the remark triggered a wave of criticism on social media, as netizens lambasted the president for downplaying the seriousness of such accusations and trivialising sexual abuse. Some even called on Moreno to resign so as not to damage the image of his country.
Following the avalanche of criticism, Moreno took to Twitter to say that he regrets having made such a remark.
“In my comment about harassment, I did not intend to minimise such a serious matter as violence or abuse. I apologise if it was understood that way. I reject violence against women in all its forms!” he tweeted.
Netizens were not ready to let the scandal go that easily.
However, some sided with the president.