Sparks rarely fly between arsonists. If the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) desperately needed friendly ground – or at least apparently neutral – to deploy his defense strategy, the journalist needed at all costs the exclusives that keep him on the front line in a network marginal audience television. Publicly repudiated for giving a non-consensual kiss to the player Jenni Hermoso during the celebration for winning the Women’s World Cup in Sydney last month, Luis Rubiales announced his resignation as president of the federation last Sunday through the British network Talk TV, in an interview given to Piers Morgan, a true macho-media champion in the United Kingdom. The exchange between the journalist and the 46-year-old ex-president, ex-union member, ex-footballer and lawyer lasted almost two hours. The full content was broadcast late on Tuesday.
The journalist tried to ask all the obligatory questions. The interviewee, to open his heart. Formally, Morgan even harassed Rubiales with his interrogation. Formally. The tone of the dialogue and, above all, the presenter’s rabidly anti-feminist history, helped few to be fooled. “I can see the impact this whole episode has had on you. It is very hard to be accused of what you have been accused of,” says Morgan, who keeps asking Rubiales about his daughters and his mother.
Two men alone, on a semi-dark set, to talk honestly. An “opportunity” for Rubiales to finally expand, as if he had not spoken endlessly since the speech before the RFEF assembly. “[Esta entrevista] It’s an opportunity. You are an opinion leader. “Millions of people follow you,” the interviewee massages the interviewer at the beginning of the talk. “Millions of people have also formed an opinion about me, so it is an opportunity to really tell what happened and tell the truth to the rest of the world,” says Rubiales.
“If the Spanish men’s team had won the World Cup, would you have interacted with those men in the same way, hugging and kissing them?” asked Morgan, who traveled to Spain to conduct the interview.
“Don’t have any doubts, one hundred percent,” said Rubiales, in rigorous black. “In fact there was a kiss on the mouth with the coach [Jorge Vilda] that did not come out, or has been seen very little. When I was a player there were many moments, when we avoided relegation, when we achieved promotion or won a title, in which there were all kinds of kisses, including what we call peaks in the mouth.
Morgan asked him if he thought he was wrong. “It is clear that I was wrong,” he replied, “it is obvious, and I said it from the beginning. It was a mutual joint act. He caught me in the air and when we came down, we were very excited. There was no sexual intention or connotation. I just appreciate. Jenni didn’t ask [cuando me levanto del suelo]. You have to understand that she is holding me and smiling. If two adults behave mutually, where there is a question involved… I think the behavior was not appropriate as president, but it was effusive and the result of the emotion of being champions. One mistake can ruin everything a man does. I think I’ve made a mistake. “I have had the humility to ask for forgiveness sincerely.”
“A president cannot behave like that,” the former president acknowledged; “Not because of the box either.” [cogerse los genitales]. A president can give a hug but in a more diplomatic way. This gesture makes me more ashamed. It is an expression, in Spanish, of ‘Ole tus eggs’, ‘Ole tus cojones’, which means ‘bravo’. It was addressed to Jorge Vilda. I have not had the opportunity to personally apologize to the Queen. The entire royal family knows me. The King is a spectacular person.”
When asked if he believes he will end up in jail, the person questioned turned around, addressing the interviewer directly: “A criminal? Look at my face. “I am a good person who, in a moment of enormous happiness, when you win a World Cup, makes a mistake.”
Throughout the interview, Rubiales avoided any response that could interfere with his future procedural strategy. And that meant, first of all, not giving in to the idea that he had to apologize to Jenni Hermoso or that the player was the one telling the truth in this whole story.
This Friday Rubiales will give a statement before the judge of the National Court who is investigating him for alleged abuse and coercion of Hermoso, who reported him to the Prosecutor’s Office and alleged that she had not given him consent to kiss her. “I’m not going to answer that,” said Rubiales, when asked if she believed that Hermoso is lying regarding consent and the issue of pressure, given that she claims that she was coerced to appear in public exonerating him. “This is honestly bad for everyone,” Rubiales added. “I have never pressured anyone on anything. I categorically deny it. I have not pressured or sent anyone to pressure Jenni. “Jorge Vilda has not pressured anyone, I know him.”
Rubiales regretted that FIFA suspended him without allowing him to defend himself. “The process was very quick, with no opportunity to have a defense,” he said. “It is very unfair. “They have not sent me the grounds, I am a lawyer and I cannot understand this.”
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