After obtaining a safe conduct and leaving for Ecuador, the family lived in Peru and Chile until allowed to return to Argentina in 1966.

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.

[1] 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.

[3] 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 of sexual harassment and abuse.