Spanish state broadcaster apologises for ‘Catalan-phobic’ comment to manager

Spanish state television channel RTVE has apologised for one of its journalists, after a xenophobic comment towards Catalans.

The incident occurred on Sunday night, as 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 adjudication of the wall.

After those comments, Gonzalez said ‘You didn’t understand the Catalan, did you?’, before proceeding to explain what he had said to the journalist. The local journalist could then be heard saying ‘No, thank God.’

The President of RTVE, Jose Pablo Lopez, then took to Twitter/X to apologise for their behaviour.

“I apologise for these statements that do not represent RTVE at all. The co-official languages ​​are a richness and ignorance of them is not a reason for pride. We will continue with our plan to promote the linguistic and cultural diversity of our country,” as quoted by MD.

He proceeded to post the same message in Catalan under that tweet. There have been a number of similar incidents in recent years, mostly including Basque and Catalan managers who tend to carry out press conferences in both Castilian Spanish and their regional language.