Roberto Pettinato (born December 15, 1955, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

Early life

Pettinato's father, Roberto Sr., was a high-ranking corrections officer in the administration of

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...

. When a coup deposed Perón in 1955, he and his family took refuge in the embassy of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, where Roberto Jr. was born. After obtaining a

safe conduct Safe conduct, safe passage, or letters of transit, is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person (usually, an enemy state's subject) a pass or document to allow the enemy ...

and leaving for Ecuador, the family lived in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

until allowed to return to Argentina in 1966.

Career

Music career

The younger Pettinato became involved in the

Argentine rock Argentine rock (known locally as ''rock nacional'' , "national rock" in the sense of "local", "not international") is rock music composed or performed by Argentina, Argentine bands or artists mostly in Spanish. Argentine rock was the earliest inc ...

scene of the late 1970s mostly as a journalist with the ''El Expreso Imaginario'' monthly magazine, which he directed from 1980 until its demise in 1982. In parallel, he was the on-and-off saxophonist for the 1980s band

Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

, led by Anglo-Italian

Luca Prodan Luca George Prodan (17 May 1953–22 December 1987) was an Italian- Scottish musician and singer, best known as lead vocalist of the influential Argentine alternative rock band Sumo. He is widely considered one of the country's most important art ...

. He has released a

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

album named ''Free Jazz Musica Anticomercial'', as Robert Pettinato & Now Free Jazz.

Television career

After Prodan's death and the band's dissolution, he started working in

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

together with

Gerardo Sofovich Gerardo Andrés Sofovich (March 18, 1937 – March 8, 2015) was an Argentine businessman, dramaturge, television host and presenter, comedian, scriptwriter, and director. He was the producer of '' Polémica en el bar'' and ''La noche del Domin ...

, co-hosting ''La noche del Domingo'' in the early 1990s. Later on, he gained popularity by hosting ''Duro de acostar'' on

Telefe Telefe (acronym for Televisión Federal) is a television station located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is owned and operated by Paramount Global through Televisión Federal S.A. Telefe is also one of Argentina's six national televisio ...

, a midnight talk show modeled after

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

's. In the mid-1990s, he attained cult status by co-hosting post-midnight sports and showbiz show ''Orsai'' (a deformation of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

term off-side) with Gonzalo Bonadeo on one of Argentina's many sports cable channels. As an actor, he took part in ''Primicias'', a television series produced by Pol-Ka and broadcast by Canal 13. He also hosted TV programs ''Mira quien canta'', ''Todos al diván'', ''Petti en vivo'' ( Canal 9), ''Un aplauso para el asador'' (Canal 13), and the ironic ''Indomables'' (

América TV América TV (call sign LS 86 TV) is an Argentine television station broadcasting on channel 2 in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and one of Argentina's five national television networks. It is owned by Grupo América. América TV ...

) and Duro de Domar. In March, of 2009 he began Un Mundo Perfecto, a

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show, originating in the American Media, United States. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It is charact ...

on (

). Following the unexpected ending of ''Indomables'' due to a conflict between the production company PPT and América TV, the production renamed and moved the program to Canal 13, where Pettinato (as of October 2006) hosts ''Duro de Domar''. He has hosted since 2004 an FM radio morning show called ''El Show de la Noticia''. He was absent from the program for over one week after a fire in his son's (Felipe Pettinato) apartment where Melchor Rodrigo, a neurologist, had died.

Sexual misconduct accusations

In February 2018, several women who worked with him, including Karina Mazzoco, Mariela Anchipi, Josefina Pouso, Virginia Godoy, Ursula Vargues, and Emilia Claudeville, accused him of sexual harassment and abuse. They stated that he would "suck" their necks without their permission until he made them cry, and humiliate them in front of other people with whom they worked. For example, Josefina Pouso stated, "all those who have worked with him, the majority who have worked with him, have told something similar, worse or perhaps a little lighter, but it was still harassment or abuse." The accusers have witnesses who backed up their claims, but can not make a formal complaint before the law due to Argentine laws regarding prescription for the amount of time spent. Pettinato has refused to talk to the media, such as the television program '' Intrusos'', about the accusations. In the aftermath of the accusations, Pettinato left Argentina for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, alleging that he was going to start a television show in the country, but reports from both countries summarized that Pettinato left Argentina to become a "media exile" due to the accusations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pettinato, Roberto 1955 births Mass media people from Buenos Aires Argentine male television actors Argentine television journalists Argentine male journalists Argentine jazz musicians Argentine television talk show hosts Living people