Woody Allen backs under fire Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales
Not content with his current level of infamy, American film director Woody Allen continues to wade into controversial waters, this time offering his defence for the Spanish football official Luis Rubiales.
Rubiales came under fire recently after giving an unsolicited kiss to footballer Jenni Hermoso after the team won the Women’s World Cup. In a widely criticised video, he embraced Hemoso before grabbing her head with both hands and briefly placing his lips on hers, something the player did not consent to.
Allen, however, thinks Rubiales did nothing wrong. Speaking to the Spanish outlet El Mundo, he said that while the Spanish football chief should apologise to Hermoso, too much of a big deal is being made over “just a kiss”.
“The kiss on the soccer player was wrong, but it did not burn down a school,” Allen said. “He has the duty to apologise and go ahead… They didn’t hide, nor did he kiss her in a dark alley. He wasn’t raping her, it was just a kiss and she was a friend.” Continuing, he asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
In contrast to the opinion held by many that Rubiales should resign, Allen asserted that the former Spanish footballer player should maintain his position as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, saying “In any case, it is difficult to understand that a person can lose their job and be penalised in that way for kissing someone.”
It would seem that even Rubiales’ family disagreed with Allen, however, with his uncle giving an incendiary interview to El Confidencial where he slammed his nephew as “a man obsessed with power, luxury, money and even women.”
Deriding Rubiales as a “boy”, former journalist Juan Rubiales López said his nephew “needs a social re-education programme and re-education in his relationship with women.” Considering Allen’s own long history of sexual abuse allegations, it’s unsurprising the American has taken this stance.
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