CNBC’s Hadley Gamble interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, and the country’s state media has spent the past few days insisting she acted like a “sexual object” to distract him.
The Daily Beast translated some media commentary on Gamble from the past week, reporting that radio host Vladimir Soloviev said Gamble used her “sex appeal” to throw off the 69-year-old leader and acted “like she was in the movie ‘9½ Weeks’ or ‘Basic Instinct.’”
Dmitry Kiselyov said on state TV’s “Vesti Nedeli” that Gamble behaved “shamelessly” and “cast wistful glances” at Putin.
“Hadley squeezed into a tight black dress, fluffed up her flowing hair, and put on a pair of nude leg-lengthening Louboutin high-heel pumps,” he said, adding that the veteran journalist’s legs were “covered in shimmering body oil, as though this wasn’t a work assignment” and acted like “a sexual object.”
Gamble, who has worked at ABC News and Fox News, wore a basic black dress and nude pumps when she interviewed Putin at a Russian Energy Week panel in Moscow. During the interview, Putin suggested she was too “beautiful” to understand what he was saying about gas supplies and the reports that Russia is withholding them to drive up prices.
A representative for CNBC did not immediately return a request for comment on the criticism from the state media hosts, but Gamble has been tweeting and retweeting responses.
She retweeted Daily Beast columnist Julia Davis, who wrote, “What’s especially comical is that the Russians are criticizing Victoria Nuland for ‘insulting Russia’ by not wearing a skirt or a dress, and Hadley Gamble for wearing one they didn’t like.”
She then posted a photo from the event that showed her walking ahead of Putin, captioning it simply, “power walk.”