Bunga bunga
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Bunga bunga is a phrase of uncertain origin and various meanings that dates from 1910 and a name for an area of Australia dating from 1852. By 2010, the phrase had gained popularity in Italy and the international press to refer to then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged sex parties with prostitutes, which caused a major political scandal in Italy.
Bunga bunga is a phrase of uncertain origin and various meanings that dates from 1910 and a name for an area of Australia dating from 1852. By 2010, the phrase had gained popularity in Italy and the international press to refer to then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's alleged sex parties with prostitutes, which caused a major political scandal in Italy.
In popular culture
In the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon Bushy Hare, the quote "Unga Bunga Bunga" was used during a yelling fit between Bugs and "Nature Boy". In 2006, Flavor Flav released the album Hollywood containing the track "Unga Bunga Bunga". In 2011, the faux-French, American band Nous Non Plus released a song entitled "Bunga Bunga". The cover of the single featured a picture of Silvio Berlusconi. The song lyrics list famous cities around the world (in French) while the video is a black and white show-reel of semi-nude dancing women. In 2012, the term was used in Season 18, Episode 1 of the British motoring show Top Gear as character The Stig's Italian cousin emerged from a motor-home dressed in a suit, followed by three glamorous girls, to set a lap time in a Ferrari 458 Italia at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola Circuit). In 2013, the American band Cherry Poppin' Daddies used the term several times in the lyrics for their song "The Babooch", a satire of "one-percenter" lifestyles. The song's music video features clips of Berlusconi alongside other billionaire figures. In 2014, Australian comedians Maynard and Tim Ferguson started a podcast named Bunga Bunga. In 2020, Wondery released a podcast about Berlusconi's rise and fall entitled "Bunga Bunga". The host was comedienne Whitney Cummings. In the 2021 film No Time to Die, James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) uses the phrase "SPECTRE bunga bunga" while attending a party in Cuba filled with SPECTRE agents. The 2022 debut single "You Will Never Work in Television Again" by English band the Smile refers explicitly to "bunga bunga".
See also
wiktionary:bunga Bongo Bongo Land Bongo-Bongo (linguistics) Group sex
Notes
References
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374909546 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.