Grillo made the comments during a visit to Pompeii, after being prompted to outline the M5S’s position on prostitution, Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday.
During the politician’s tour, a local prostitute, named as Elisa, asked: “What are you doing for us who are in the street?”
After at first misunderstanding her to mean she was unemployed, Grillo reportedly told her to “have more curiosity and work through the internet”.
“There are websites, if you go on YouPorn you can choose videos depending on your preference, avoiding dangerous brokering; [customers] pay and consume [porn videos] in the complete privacy of their homes,” Grillo was quoted in Corriere as saying.
YouPorn is the 117th most popular website in the world, with 6.7 percent of users in Italy, according to internet analytics website Alexa.
Grillo said the M5S, the second-largest party in Italy, had not come up with a political position on prostitution but was “open to solutions”.
The prostitute pressed him on legalizing brothels, an idea currently under debate in some parts of Italy which would require changing a 1950s law.
The proposal has been backed by some politicians in Milan, who have put the issue on the agenda of the regional Lombardy council. In February, a prostitute in the city held a naked protest outside the offices of Corriere, demanding her profession be legalized so that she could pay tax.
READ MORE: Naked prostitute demands to pay tax
Don't miss a story about Italy – Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
Member comments