Posted on 06/12/2023 2:52:16 AM PDT by fluorescence
Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who defied a succession of scandals to tower over Italian politics for decades, has died, according to Italian media. He was 86.
Berlusconi’s Mediaset television network announced his death on Monday alongside a smiling photo of the man on its homepage.
Italy's longest-serving premier, Berlusconi formed the country's largest media company before using his fame and wealth as the launchpad for a political career that saw him lead Italy three times.
He had been diagnosed with leukemia in April after years of ill health and was admitted to the hospital for what doctors described as a scheduled check-up on Friday.
Berlusconi had heart surgery in 2016 and previously suffered from prostate cancer. He has been repeatedly hospitalized over the past couple of years after contracting Covid-19 in 2020.
[snip] Berlusconi remained an active politician until his death. He sat in the Senate, the Italian Parliament’s upper house, and yet again stirred controversy in recent months by criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, putting him at odds with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
RIP Silvio,
I’m not sure a Bunga Bunga Party is welcome if you were trying to get into heaven.
What is a bunga bunga party?
By 2010 the phrase had gained popularity in Italy and the international press to refer to then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s sex parties with prostitutes, which caused a major political scandal in Italy.
I’m surprised VD didn’t get him.
Berlusconi was one of those people who seemed to live several lifetimes within one incarnation. I believe the Italian government had to fashion a law just for him, a law that would prevent Silvo from ever running for president again.
Even after a blizzard of scandal and controversy, the majority of the Italian people were compelled to keep voting for him.
I always figured he’d go out like Nelson Rockefeller.
He is going to try to sneak into heaven by claiming he is Silvio Dante not Silvio Berlusconi.
RIP.
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