Spanish state television channel RTVE has apologized for one of its journalists after a xenophobic comment towards Catalans.
The incident took place on Sunday evening, when Espanyol manager Manolo Gonzalez spoke to the press in the aftermath of a defeat to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. Gonzalez was asked a question in Catalan and complained about the referee's assessment of the wall.
After these comments, Gonzalez said: “You didn't understand Catalan, did you?”, before continuing to explain what he had said to the journalist. Then you could hear the local journalist say, “No, thank God.”
RTVE president Jose Pablo Lopez subsequently apologized for their behavior on Twitter/X.
“I apologize for these statements which do not represent RTVE at all. The co-official languages are a wealth and ignorance of them is no reason for pride. We will continue with our plan to promote our country's linguistic and cultural diversity,” said MD.
He then posted the same message in Catalan under that tweet. There have been a number of similar incidents in recent years, mainly involving Basque and Catalan managers who tend to hold press conferences in both Castilian Spanish and their regional languages.
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