Minors' ombudsman to investigate explicit remarks made by talk show participant

The ombudsman for minors in Madrid has opened an investigation into an El Mundo columnist, who also appears as a panelist on a Telemadrid talk show, for making sexual comments in a TV studio in front of a group of students.

On November 11, journalist Salvador Sostres, 35, made a series of comments in front of the Alto y Claro studio audience during a commercial break, saying that he preferred girls between the ages of 17 and 18 because "young girls are at that magic moment of sexual tension." "Those vaginas, which are yet to smell of uric acid, are clean," he said.

A complaint was filed against Sostres by the UGT labor union.

Madrid regional premier Esperanza Aguirre, whose administration controls the government-run regional station, said she would not intervene in the controversy, saying that his comments were "private."

Both the Socialists and members of Aguirre's Popular Party have criticized Sostres' comments. The Madrid Women's Institute issued a statement saying that they serve to "foment gender violence."

Sostres also said the comments were private and that he should not be subjected to any type of formal inquiry. But PP communications spokesman Estebán González Pons said that "there is no excuse" because "these things should never even be said in private."