A Spanish journalist has been fired after she described a Real Madrid football star as “blacker than his suit” on-air, apparently thinking that her microphone was turned off.
Lorena Gonzalez, a journalist for the Spanish news broadcaster TVE, has been fired nearly two weeks after she allegedly described the rising French football star Eduardo Camavinga, 18, as “blacker than his own suit”.
Eduardo was born in an Angolan refugee camp to Congolese parents and moved to the northern city of Lille in France at the age of two, becoming a citizen in 2019.
He was signed to Real Madrid in August this year, 2021, and scored a goal on his debut game against Celta Vigo.
Gonzalez announced that she had been fired on Saturday, 25th October, for the comment that she made live on TV on 10th October.
The news site Publimetro reports that Gonzalez did not deny that she made the statement but she says that she thought her microphone was off at the time.
She went on to say that she has personally spoken to Camavinga and he was not offended by the comment.
Furthermore, she claims that the people criticising her want to be more “papist than the pope himself.” The expression ‘mas papistas que el papa’ (“being more papist than the pope”) is not dissimilar to the English expression “more catholic than the pope”.
After the comment was made, the hashtag “Audio” – in reference to her reportedly being overheard saying the sentence when she thought her microphone was off – started to get used on Twitter to put pressure on TVE to take action against Gonzalez for the incident.
Since being fired Gonzales has said that she apologises for the comment saying it was a mistake but refused to apologise for saying something racist as she has never and would never make such a comment.
Gonzales went on to explain that she was not comparing the Real Madrid star’s skin colour to anything derogatory or ugly and therefore the comment itself was not derogatory.
She said: “I could not be further away from a racist, homophobe, or someone with intolerant thoughts and behaviours.
“This is what I have stated whenever I have had the opportunity, both publicly and privately. I condemn any racist expression or act.”
She described being fired as disproportionate and says that she is now struggling with the anxiety of being unemployed and complained about the negative message she has received on social media since the incident.
Camavinga is yet to issue a statement regarding the incident and he has not publicly affirmed Gonzales’ claim that he was not offended by the statement.
