Pettinato's father, Roberto Sr., was a high-ranking corrections officer in the administration of Juan Perón. When a coup deposed Perón in 1955, he and his family took refuge in the embassy of Ecuador, where Roberto Jr. was born. After obtaining a safe conduct and leaving for Ecuador, the family lived in Peru and Chile until allowed to return to Argentina in 1966.
Career
Music career
The younger Pettinato became involved in the Argentine rock 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, led by Anglo-Italian Luca Prodan. He has released a free jazz 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 together with Gerardo Sofovich, co-hosting La noche del Domingo in the early 1990s. Later on, he gained popularity by hosting Duro de acostar on Telefe, a midnight talk show modeled after David Letterman's. In the mid-1990s, he attained cult status by co-hosting post-midnight sports and showbiz show Orsai 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 programsMira quien canta, Todos al diván, Petti en vivo, Un aplauso para el asador, and the ironic Indomables and Duro de Domar. In March, of 2009 he began Un Mundo Perfecto, a late-night talk show 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 hosts Duro de Domar. He has hosted since 2004 a FM radiomorning show called El Show de la Noticia.
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 for 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. The accusers have witnesses who backed up their claims, but can not make a formal complaintbefore 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 programIntrusos, about the accusations. In the aftermath of the accusations, Pettinato left Argentina for Paraguay, 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.
