Controversial statements by politicians in the 21st century

01

Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte

A sitting president joked, live on stage, that he should have 'gone first' before soldiers raped and killed Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill in 1989. The crowd laughed. He won the election anyway.

02

Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape

Recorded in 2005 on an Access Hollywood bus, Trump told host Billy Bush he grabs women 'by the pussy' without asking. Released eleven days before the election, it moved no needle.

03

Nancy Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech

Nancy Pelosi tore Trump's State of the Union address into two pieces directly behind his back the instant he finished speaking, February 4, 2020. The two pages became separate auction items.

04

Controversies surrounding Jair Bolsonaro

On the Senate floor, Bolsonaro told Senator Maria do Rosário she was 'not worth raping' — then, as president, publicly praised the colonel who tortured her during Brazil's military dictatorship.

05

Controversies surrounding Silvio Berlusconi

Berlusconi called Mussolini 'benign' and Hitler merely 'obsessed with power' on January 27, 2002 — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — standing beside a far-right coalition partner at a Milan memorial.

06

Viktor Orbán

Viktor Orbán told a summer university audience in July 2022 that Hungarians must not become a 'mixed-race' people — prompting his own advisor, Zsuzsa Hegedűs, to resign and call it a 'pure Nazi speech.'

07

Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign

At a $50,000-a-plate Boca Raton fundraiser, Romney told donors 47% of Americans 'believe they are victims' and pay no income tax. A bartender's phone captured every word.

08

Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations Security Council

Colin Powell held up a vial of fake anthrax and pointed to blurred satellite photos at the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003. He later called it 'a blot' — his single worst word.

09

Jeremiah Wright controversy

Pastor Jeremiah Wright shouted 'God damn America' from his Chicago pulpit in a 2003 sermon that ABC News broadcast in March 2008, forcing Obama to deliver a full national speech on race within days.

10

Macaca (term)

Senator George Allen pointed at S.R. Sidarth, a 20-year-old tracker of Indian descent, called him 'macaca,' and said 'welcome to America.' Allen was the 2008 Republican frontrunner. He lost his Senate seat that November.