Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologised “unequivocally” for comments he made about popstar Kylie Minogue in a podcast interview last week.

The leader had made an appearance on the Bush Deep podcast with comedian Nikki Osborne, who asked him to place celebrities Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman and Rhonda Burchmore in a “shag, marry or date” as part of the 20-minute interview.

After initially trying to avoid the question, Albanese said “Oh, Kylie, clearly”.

He was quickly met by a wave of backlash, with some MPs calling his remarks “entirely inappropriate”, and an other adding that they were “disrepectful to women… and demean the office of Prime Minister.

Osborne, who is best known for posting crude comedy sketches on YouTube, had launched her podcast series earlier this year. Her podcast site describes her as a “wildly inapproriate journalist” who asks “questions no one else would dare”.

In a one-line statement issued early on Monday, the prime minister said: “I apologise unequivocally for the comments”.

Albanese had made the comments over the weekend during an interview that took place in the prime minister’s official residence in Canberra.

After Osborne first posed the question, Albanese, who married his partner Jodie Haydon in November, had initially responded: “I’ve just got married, I’m only six months in.”

But after being pushed by Osborne, he added: “Oh, Kylie, clearly.”

“You’d marry Kylie, and shag her, and date her?” Osborne said.

“All of the above,” Albanese said. “She’s terrific.”

Community Strong MP Zali Steggall said the remarks were “entirely inappropriate”, adding that he “needs to learn to push back, lead by example and call it out as sexist”.

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson said in a post on X the comments were “disrespectful to women, embarrassing to Australians and demean the office of Prime Minister.”

Richard Marles, who is acting prime minister while Albanese is on a visit to the Pacific, told news outlet ABC that the government was “utterly committed” to the elevation of women in society.

“From time to time, we obviously do different interviews to the one we are doing now, but I think the other point to make here is that the government that the PM leads is the first in history that has had equality in terms of the number of men and women in cabinet,” Marles said on the broadcaster’s Radio National Breakfast programme.

Albanese was also asked about the worst gift he had received on an overseas jaunt. He said a “strange” but ultimately “quite good” gift had come from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi who brought two melons, to which Osborne responded that she “came in looking like Pamela Anderson”.