Joao Soares, the son of a former Portuguese president, made the comments about journalists Augusto Seabra et Vasco Pulido Valente after he was criticized in a stinging editorial in the Publico newspaper.
“A good slap would do them some good. And me as well,” Soares wrote on Thursday morning, sparking angry criticism and calls for him to resign.
He later defended himself saying he had “reacted not to opinions but to insults” and prime minister Antonio Costa was forced to apologize to the two journalists on his behalf.
Soares resigned on Friday for reasons of “deep solidarity with the government and its left-wing political project”, he said in a statement published by the Lusa news agency, AFP reported on Saturday.
In the editorial that angered Soares, Seabra said his appointment was “inexplicable” and his ministerial style was marked by “cronyism, authoritarianism and coarseness”.
The minister’s resignation comes a day after the head of Portugal’s armed forces resigned after the number two in the country’s military college admitted telling parents of young cadets to withdraw their sons if they were gay “to protect them from the other students”.