Even in the time of Trump, it’s a bad idea to publicly accept an inflatable sex doll at a major industry event if you’re a prominent politician. Alas, this was a lesson learned too late by Chile’s Economy Minister Luis Felipe Cespedes.
Tuesday night, Cespedes appeared at the annual dinner for Chile’s Manufacturers’ and Exporters Association, where Roberto Fantuzzi, the head of the association, gave him the inflatable sex toy. The “joke” appears to be the sign pasted over the doll’s mouth, which read “To stimulate the economy” in Spanish.
https://twitter.com/AntoRivas/status/809123503899185152
Si Bachelet no le pide la renuncia a Luis Felipe Céspedes, la señal es super clara: Nos vulneran a diario y no importa. #Asexma. Y Guillier👎 pic.twitter.com/9EPQg1CjvW
— Ballestrinque ☔ | #SeráLey ✊🏽💚 (@NicoChiessa) December 14, 2016
Para quien no lo conoce, el min de economía, Luis Felipe Cespedes, es el de traje gris, que está punteando una mona inflable #Asexma pic.twitter.com/gxeBn0a2tw
— bdoarcos (@bdoarcos) December 14, 2016
Photos from the event show Cespedes laughing while posing with the doll and later walking off stage with it. Other Chileans were less amused.
“What a shameful job to hand an inflatable doll to Minister Cespedes ‘to stimulate the economy,”’journalist Consuelo Saavedra wrote on Twitter.
President Michelle Bachelet also weighed in on Twitter. ”The fight for respect for women has been a key principle of my two terms in office. What happened at the Asexma dinner can’t be tolerated,” she wrote.
Cespedes has since apologized, saying he was “caught by surprise” by the reaction, according to the BBC. Fantuzzi has also apologized.
