Adrián Marcelo abruptly left La Casa de los Famosos México early this Wednesday morning. His departure comes after the contestant made misogynistic comments and the withdrawal of several major brands from sponsoring the show. “One less woman to mistreat,” said the contestant after the departure of one of his allies last Sunday.
The YouTuber’s words were in response to accusations made by Gala Montes, another of the contestants, who called Marcelo “misogynist and narcissist.” This Tuesday, during the gala, tension and verbal violence increased when the host of the contest, Odalys Ramírez, gave the comedian the opportunity to explain his ill-advised words. Everything exploded again. “It’s a complete irony,” Marcelo said in his defense. “Because of the baseness I suffered from Arath and Gala inferring that my stay here has been to mistreat women, to rape them. Gala even dared to say, to show me off, that she fears for the safety of her fellow contestants,” the contestant denounced to once again attack his fellow contestant. “I knew what I was getting into with an unstable woman who needs to take medication three times a day to be in the competition and, well, an apology to you and all the women if they took it as such. It was a joke,” he said.
Montes responded by pointing out her partner’s comments on the live broadcast. “He continues to abuse me, talking about my illness. He is a misogynist who should not be here. I did not invent these adjectives, you deserve them. And just like me, many women out there will repeat them to you because there is a whole movement that defends me and you are safer here than out there,” said the participant. The confrontation continued off-camera, escalating well into the early hours of the morning.
Adrián Marcelo agreed to leave hours later without resistance. His departure was so surprising that he did not say goodbye to his colleagues or collect his personal belongings. It has not been clarified whether the production of the program had a conversation with the contestant, what is a fact is that he stopped participating in the reality hours after the confrontation. “The program is a live format that reflects the expressions and decisions of each participant that do not always reflect the values that we promote as a company,” Televisa said in a statement. “We do not tolerate any form of gender or psychological violence,” the company added.
Women’s rights organizations, activists and fans of the show have been demanding that Televisa and the production company EndemolShine remove the contestant for several weeks due to his constant attacks. “We will continue working for the best causes and avoiding any type of violence on television and in any other public space,” said Mario San Martín Robles, director of Information, Entertainment and Sports at Televisa, in statements to EL PAÍS.
The latest to take a stand were several sponsors of the contest, who decided to withdraw their brands. Among them Unilever, owner of Rexona, Holland ice cream, Dove, Knorr and Hellmanns. “We are committed to acting with integrity and supporting content that makes a positive difference in the media and social environment, contributing to a world in which respect and dignity are the norm,” the company said in a statement.
Those who have questioned the permanence of a character like Marcelo on television also question the role of Televisa in this whole affair. “These types of formats in which these behaviors are allowed consolidate violence as entertainment,” said a few days ago Aimée Vega Montiel, researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Sciences and Humanities of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Vega Montiel also questions the fact that the largest television station in the country serves as a loudspeaker for sexist violence in Mexico, a country in which 10 women are murdered every day.
The violence seen in the second edition of La Casa de los Famosos has not been limited to a conflict between contestants or a controversial contestant. Two of the show’s producers have reported death threats and attacks against them, leaks of their personal data and phone numbers, putting them at serious risk, both on social media and in real life.
This is not the first time that a format created by Endemol has taken action against a contestant in the face of a situation of violence. It happened in Gran Hermano VIP España, after homophobic comments by two participants, or in Big Brother Brasil, when a contestant was sexually harassed by two fellow contestants. The debate about the responsibility of the media and the type of content they capitalize on continues. La Casa de los Famosos, meanwhile, continues to break audience records since its return to the screen and is already the most watched program in the history of Mexican television.
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