Rai scraps Facci programme amid sexist slur row

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 17 - State broadcaster Rai said on Monday it will not be airing a new five-minute current affairs programme hosted by a journalist at the centre of a political storm in relation to alleged sexism and victim blaming towards a young woman who has reported Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa's son for alleged sexual assault.
    CEO Roberto Sergio took the decision on Filippo Facci's participation in the programming schedule in agreement with the director of in-depth analysis Paolo Corsini and general director Giampaolo Rossi, according to a statement.
    Last week Sergio faced calls to refrain from giving the new slot on Rai 2 to Facci after he wrote that "a 22-year-old girl was undoubtedly high on cocaine before getting high on Leonardo Apache La Russa".
    The phrase sparked a storm of criticism from opposition parties and the condemnation of the Italian National Press Federation FNSI and other journalists' groups. On Tuesday Sergio told the board of directors "it is not my habit to decide on the basis of instrumental and emotional political campaigns" but added that a decision would be taken "within a short period of time".
    Leonardo La Russa is under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a former classmate after a night at a Milan night club in May.
    The case has grabbed headlines in Italy as his father Ignazio holds the second highest office of state and is a top exponent of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
    On Friday La Russa senior's office expressed faith in the work being done by Milan prosecutors, while saying media coverage of the case had gone too far.
    At the end of last week's NATO summit, Meloni distanced herself from a previous statement in which La Russa defended his son and called into question the alleged victim's version of events on grounds she had taken cocaine.
    "As a mother I can understand the suffering of the Senate speaker, although I would not have intervened on the merits of the issue," Meloni told reporters. (ANSA).