He’s arguably the best footballer the world has ever seen, but Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo could find himself in trouble if recent sexual assault accusations are proven true.
The events apparently took place in a Las Vegas hotel back in 2009, but have only come to light now after Kathryn Mayorga (the woman who claims to have been victimized by Ronaldo) told her story to German magazine Der Spiegel, as reported on The Guardian (via PC Gamer).
However, Ronaldo was quick to defend himself, taking to Twitter to deny these accusations earlier this week.
“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense”, said Ronaldo on Twitter.
Despite Ronaldo’s strong denial though, it appears these events have not gone down well at Electronic Arts.
This is the giant video game publisher behind FIFA, the European football video game franchise, which is one of the best-known and best-selling video game sports franchises in the world.
“We are closely monitoring the situation, as we expect cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA’s values”, said Electronic Arts in a statement sent to gaming website Eurogamer.
This might be because Los Angeles police have now reopened the case and the investigation is now moving forward, meaning there could be further developments soon.
It remains to be seen, though, how much this incident will hurt Ronaldo’s reputation and career, or whether Electronic Arts is already searching for a replacement athlete to appear on the cover of its latest FIFA game, which came out on September 28. Actually, Ronaldo’s image was removed from the game’s Twitter page as PC Gamer points out, although EA has denied it has anything to do with the alleged rape accusations.
This could all come to nothing though, with Ronaldo emerging unscathed at the end as he continues to reap fame and fortune at his new club Juventus. Although given how serious the accusations levied against him are, it surely is better to adopt a wait and see attitude here and see what comes out of this in the end.
FIFA 19 (Electronic Arts)