FIFA media chief and former Sky Sports man Bryan Swanson came out as gay during Gianni Infantino’s press conference in Qatar.
The FIFA president held a press conference today to defend Qatar, which has come under extreme criticism in recent days ahead of the World Cup.
The Western media has hugely criticised the country’s views on LGBTQ, public display of affection and alleged human rights issues revolving around workers who died while building the stadiums. The most recent event that cause a huge uproar amongst fans was Qatar’s late U-turn decision to ban alcoholic drinks in and around the stadium.
Gianni Infantino in his comments today called out the European countries for being hypocritical in their criticism of Qatar. He accused the critics of discriminating against the Qataris. He said (via ESPN):
“What is sad is that especially in the last weeks, we have been witnessing in some places a real lesson of moral, of double moral [standards],”
“We are told to make many lessons from some Europeans, from the Western world. I’m European. I think for what we Europeans have been doing for 3,000 years around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”
Most fans were not pleased with Infantino’s speech, but FIFA media chief Swanson was quick to defend him. In an impassioned speech, he came out as gay while defending FIFA chief in an attempt to defuse tensions ahead of the World Cup. He said:
“I have seen a lot of criticism of Gianni Infantino since I’ve joined FIFA, particularly from the LGBTI community.
“I am sitting here in a privileged position, on a global stage, as a gay man, here in Qatar.
“We have received assurances that everyone is welcome and I believe everyone will be welcome in this World Cup.
“Just because Gianni Infantino is not gay does not mean he does not care. He does care.
“You see the public side. I see the private side. We have spoken on a number of occasions about this.
“I thought long and hard about whether to mention this in this news conference, this after all is a news conference for the FIFA president, but I do feel strongly about it.”
The World Cup hasn’t even begun yet, and there’s already so much drama. One can only imagine how the next month will be both on and off the field.