PHILIPPINES: President Rodrigo Duterte Calls US Ambassador Philip Goldberg “The Gay Son Of A Whore”

The Guardian reports: 

The Philippines’ firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte has sparked a fresh diplomatic row with his colourful language, calling the US ambassador “gay” in comments that prompted Washington to summon Manila’s envoy to complain.

In the latest of series of tirades, Duterte used a local Tagalog language homophobic slur to express his displeasure with US Ambassador Philip Goldberg in televised comments made Friday.

“As you know, I’m fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry’s) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off,” Duterte said.

Duterte, 71, surged to power with a landslide in May following an incendiary campaign in which he gleefully used foul language to disrespect authority figures, from his local political rivals to the pope.

He first came into conflict with US envoy Goldberg on the campaign trail, after he said he wanted to rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary who was sexually assaulted and murdered in a 1989 prison riot in Davao, the city he ran for two decades. Goldberg and the Australian ambassador both strongly criticised these comments.

You’ll be surprised to learn that Duterte has widely been compared to Donald Trump. There is no report that Goldberg is gay.