A married Argentinian politician was forced to resign last week after he went viral during a livestream session for pulling down the top of his girlfriend and kissing one of her newly-enhanced breasts.
Juan Emilio Ameri, a legislator in Argentina’s lower house of Congress “shocked fellow lawmakers” last Thursday as he snuggled up to his girlfriend sitting on his lap during a livestream session, apparently when he thought his internet connection was not working, the New York Post reported. He later pulled down the woman’s vest and kissed her right breast.
“Let’s see how the implants look, I told her,” Ameri later explained following the viral slip, according to the Irish Times. “Look, this one’s down more, this one’s down less, let’s look at the scars, and she was beside me and I kissed her.”
House President Sergio Massa reportedly interrupted the legislative session to report the “serious offense” and Ameri was suspended for 180 days.
“I’m very ashamed, (I feel) very bad,” Ameri told Radio Con Vos, according to The Week. “Here, throughout the interior of the country, the (Internet) connection is very bad.”
The legislator later told Todo Noticias (TN) that he was “very ashamed” and takes “responsibility” for his actions.
“It was serious, really,” he told the outlet. “I take responsibility. I’m very ashamed.”
“I saw that my partner came out of the bathroom and I asked how she was, due to the operation,” the legislator explained, noting that he thought he was not connected to the internet at the time of the interaction. “At that moment she sat with me and I kissed her on the breast without realizing that the connection had returned.”
“It was a moment of intimacy with my partner that leaked,” Ameri said, breaking into tears. “It was serious, really, I take charge and I am very ashamed. I am very distressed by what is happening.”
Ameri also apologized to the women in his life and Argentinians more broadly.
“I apologize to the citizens, to my family, to my partner, for all this situation,” he told TN, adding, “I want to apologize to my mother, my sisters, my daughters, with whom I have not yet spoken.”
Following the announcement of Ameri’s resignation, a statement released by the government’s bloc in the lower house emphasized that they “cannot allow irresponsibility of this magnitude,” according to the Irish Times.
“We cannot allow irresponsibility of this magnitude, so we will guarantee that all the rules are applied so that he is sanctioned in the appropriate way according to the seriousness of his acts,” the statement said.
Though the action against Ameri was swift, there was at least one fellow Peronist party member who defended Ameri. Buenos Aires city council legislator María Rachid said in a tweet posted Thursday that Ameri’s behavior “was no worse that of legislators who play Candy Crush on their mobile phones while in session,” the Irish Times reported.
Ameri claims to be estranged from his wife, according to local reports.