Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has doubled down on his widely criticized remarks regarding the French national football team, publishing a new column on Thursday, “You need to keep your sense of humor‘, that defends his original stance despite diplomatic outrage from both Madrid and Paris.
Rajoy’s initial July 10 column in the online site El Debate sparked international backlash after he claimed the top-ranked French squad “has no French players,” an apparent reference to the African and Afro-Caribbean heritage of several team members. The remarks were heavily condemned as xenophobic and racist by current Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and French officials. In response, Spain’s foreign minister issued an official apology to France ahead of Tuesday’s semifinal, which Spain won 2-0.
Rather than retracting his statements, Rajoy used his latest El Debate piece to mock his critics with sarcasm. He mockingly thanked government officials for “the attention they have paid me” and accused Sánchez’s administration of using the controversy to distract the public from domestic political scandals. Rajoy firmly rejected calls for an apology, writing:
“You already know what I am like and what I think.”
