Marc Giró: "If someone has pointed out Pedro Sánchez, the PSOE or the PSC from the Process until today, it is me"

BarcelonaFigure in a dazzling rise, he has made the leap from TVE to La Sexta, where he now successfully maintains Cara al show, a classic and solid format late show from which he fiercely attacks the right. In this interview, we talk about the latest changes, adolescent Marc, or the fear of violence against bodies, in a conversation that, paradoxically, is both relaxed and accelerated at the same time, thanks to his generous and exuberant chatter.

Cara al show has been the best premiere on La Sexta since Lo de Évole. Happy?

— Psychologists tell you that you have to free yourself from the validation of parents, teachers or lovers, that you have to be yourself... but our work depends on the validation of others and, luckily, it went very well. Now, if I am happy, above all, it is because I believe I am making a great program. The change of network, the battles, the joys, the quarrels... it has all been because I wanted to continue making the same program, if you like, under better conditions or with more tranquility. These formats need cruising speed and not to stop every two months, not to be moved from one network to another, not to have your time changed...

The new phase began singing No cambié, by Yurena. One of the verses says: “Sigo siendo la misma, pero ya no sufro por tu querer”. What made you suffer, at RTVE?

— I was very happy at Televisió Espanyola. If I am where I am now, with my team, it is thanks to Televisió Espanyola. But Televisió Espanyola is also where it is now thanks to me and my team. In any case, during this time I have discovered that the work I do is very fragile.

In what sense?

— You, who have interviewed many puppets from the TV, you must have noticed. This job, that of a presenter

And why wouldn't you receive it?

— Sometimes, relationships... They have to love you with a certain enthusiasm. That doesn't mean I haven't been happy at Spanish Television. But perhaps I wasn't receiving it in the way I needed. They loved me, defended me, and I know they appreciate me, and I them. But I have the feeling that they had a project for me that didn't involve the late.

They offered you the afternoon.

— Exactly. They didn't want to lose me, but maybe they did want me in another slot. But what I want to do is a classic late nightExactly. They didn't want to lose me, but maybe they wanted me in another range. But what I want to do is a

On La Sexta there is also Évole, Wyoming, Aimar Bretos... Planeta has maintained this channel with a progressive ideology. But the group's channel that gets the most budget is Antena 3, where there is Pablo Motos or Susanna Griso, who lean more to the right. Aren't you afraid they will instrumentalize you?

— I understand that this is always raised from this point of view, but none of those you mentioned are puppets. Nobody puts their hand up our ass and moves us. The people at Planeta know what they are dealing with and this is a constant dialogue. I also work for the Godó Group, but I will not give up expressing myself and saying what I want to say. Well, I'm not an idiot and I know where I'm going, but I consider myself a trailblazer: I clear the common space so that we can freely express what is necessary.

It is still a company that had been listed on the Íbex-35.

— Well, I have to say that, in the meetings I've had with Atresmedia, I was surprised. If I had any prejudice along the lines of the question you asked me, I was surprised by their vision of the country. I insist, I'm used to working in private communication companies, so I know exactly what's expected of me and how it works. And, even knowing that, I will continue to do what I believe I have to do. In the end, by contract, I have editorial freedom. I have it guaranteed.

You were interviewed by Pablo Motos on El Hormiguero...

— The conclusion I reach is that Pablo Motos and I are a great television couple!

The two Spains, you said.

— Ha, ha, of course, I swept towards home and I find that he lost the opportunity to sweep towards his home, which I would have loved. Anyway, we have other meetings pending: I know that he esteems me and I him, let that be clear. El Hormiguero is a great television program, undeniably, as the figures show. We will meet again, stranger!

Week in, week out, you attack the fascists and what you call pre-fascists.

— This being left-wing is not an aesthetic. That I am in favor of aesthetics, as you know. But it has to do with the redistribution of wealth, of resources that are common, it has to do with the defense of the public good and the defense of human rights. It is being anti-racist. Feminist. Being for care.

I said it because polls suggest that the far-right will be part of the Spanish government in the next elections. What do you fear the most?

— I said it because polls suggest that the far-right will be part of the Spanish government in the next elections. What do you fear the most?

The body is political.

— Yes, the body means the body that you are holding: the bones, the blood, the skin, the hair, the body, your body and those around you, the people who love you, your neighbors, your friends, your fellow humans, your citizens... You at ARA are doing extraordinary work investigating how CIEs work, for example, or push-backs. All of this is violence against the body. Like feminicides, which have a lot to do with the far-right. The far-right very quickly attacks the body, they attack you personally. Listen, we can withstand, and we do withstand, the scuffles of debate and what they call polarization. This can be dealt with and answered with pedagogy. But the attack on bodies...

It's a dire outlook.

— They will go to smash this, to drag our bodies. The far-right will go looking for the body. I am gay and I know what it is to have your body attacked. Women know perfectly well what it is to be beaten up. Migrants or racialized people know what it is to be kicked out of the country. Catalans, with October 1st, know perfectly well what violence on the body means. The far-right and fascism end with violence. With violence against bodies. Get beaten up! [Two strong slaps to the face] And it will happen, eh? If they arrive, it will happen.

Polarization doesn't particularly worry you, then.

— If polarizing is saying that one must choose between being in favor of feminicides or not, then I am polarized, there you go. And I am in favor of everyone fucking and loving whomever they want and all the time. Don't you? Well, if you don't think so, of course we will be polarized!

Do you hold a lot of hate?

— Yes, but that doesn't worry me. The hate doesn't worry me. I also receive a lot of affection, even from people who are not on my wavelength at any level. Just yesterday I was talking to a colleague who is extremely conservative, and rightly so because he has things to preserve from before. And when I studied the posh people for ARA, he felt recognized. You've made us think, he told me. And that is my responsibility. Like that of his newspaper. We have the responsibility to clear the way and open paths for dialogue. The hate on social media? If you are on the sofa, and they call you an idiot, fucking Catalan, fucking red... I understand that this is bluster and I have no problem with it.

But nobody likes to be called the pig's name.

— Insults hurt, yes. But hateBut nobody likes being told the name of the pig.Black.

Does the Catalan far-right concern you as well?

— I am optimistic and I don't think it will happen, that they won't happen. But I believe that if the Spanish far-right comes to power, it will be thanks to the votes of the Catalan far-right. With an incredible political finesse. In fact, they might already be talking.

What can be done about that?

— Anti-racism, feminism, decolonialism, communism... We must study what it means to be left-wing and what left-wing policies are. Because these policies are not all made in Parliaments. Some are being made in neighborhoods, in residents' associations, in tenants' unions, now in libraries... There are left-wing people everywhere, making very risky policies and putting themselves on the line. Therefore, the fault for the rise of the far-right is not with the left-wing person. This is an idea that is being repeated in newspaper columns, by columnists and in discussion groups, which makes me nervous.

Returning to the interview with Évole, if Pedro Sánchez called you with nice words... weren't you afraid it would be the bear's hug?

— I am at an age now, that I am 51 years old and... I cannot give up any hug, understand? Now Pedro Sánchez hugs me like a bear, which I have always loved, by the way, this thing about bears, and I, look, I would tell him: hug me, hug this body in need of a man! I am not picky when it comes to men, or hugs. Have I left a mark, before, on my face?

I'm afraid so. I was asking because perhaps then they perceive you as subjugated and without the possibility of overseeing him.

— Well, if you review the monologues I've done on TVE, you'll see that if anyone has pointed out Pedro Sánchez, or the PSOE, or the PSC, from the Catalan independence process to this day, it's me. I have no problem saying what I think about Pedro Sánchez and, despite that, I think he is a great politician and is doing great things. Although I think he should do more.

What was Marc Giró like as a teenager? Did he imagine he would work as a communicator?

— Science fiction has never interested me, and therefore I don't project futures. That's why, for example, I'm not interested in the idea of heaven, but neither in hell, tarot, or horoscopes. I'm not interested in the future. The idea of future is curious, but it doesn't interest me. And, therefore, I work in the present. As a child, the diagnosis made about me was that I had a lack of attention, but I think it was the opposite: that I was surrounded by people who projected the future a lot while I was extremely focused on the present. Now that I have a dog, I realize I am a dog. I observe all the time. Who passes by in this cafe, what they are carrying, how they speak. I really don't have a deficit of attention, I have an excess of attention. And I don't want to be anything. I aspire to nothing.

To not aspire to anything, you have done what you have done.

— I have been improvising. Society asks you for a series of things. From kindergarten, I noticed what was expected of me and I have been serving it, theatrically. Since there was a university tradition at home, I had to enter university, but if we had been craftsmen, then I would have worked whatever... Anyway, while I was following this guided path, I was also thinking about how to escape from all this. And a way emerged spontaneously.

I interviewed you three years ago and you told me you had stopped therapy because you couldn't afford to pay for it and also pay for the horse's hay. Now you must be managing more money, so you must be able to pay for both.

— Ha! Yes, but I don't need it now... Well, I don't know if I need it or not, but I don't want to do therapy now, I don't feel like it. I possibly need it, like everyone else, but I'm 51 years old and I've traveled a series of paths for which I already know I won't go back, because I've already traveled them. There are trips I already know I won't take. Things I wanted to do but haven't accomplished and have deflated. And I have burdens, they call them traumas, that I no longer care to carry. There is a relief, I've been shedding weight. Now, at the same time, there's a burden that's already part of me and my hump that I would regret letting go of now. Because, if you leave that weight behind, you end up forgetting what it represented.

Your husband is Santi Villas, who directs the program. Is working with your partner on television easier or more difficult?

— Now I understand the Ewing family! I enjoy watching television, but I'm not a television obsessive, like you, for example. Or like my husband, who also is and is constantly thinking about the program. He is happy like that. And, of course, sometimes at home, at half past eleven at night, I have to tell him: are you asking me something about the program now? I'm out of service! But, and I'm not saying this because he's my husband, Santi is possibly one of the people who knows the most about television and is clearest about what he wants and how he wants it. And he's a good boss because he takes responsibility. I've been with directors who hesitated and that creates a lot of insecurity for you and the whole team.

We know the brilliant Marc Giró who triumphs. Have you also tasted failure?

— The other day I went to Carles Francino's program and Gerard Quintana was there saying that you learn from failures and all that... I didn't say anything, but I'm clear about it: I prefer success to failure, I prefer comfort. This romanticization of failure... I don't quite agree with it.

But you must have stumbled sometime.

— Of course, but whenever I have fallen, there has been someone who has helped me to get up, I have not done it alone. We must count on others. Moreover, many times, this thing about success and failure is a personal perception. Many times I have thought that I have done an incredible mess and it turns out to be a success. Or, on the contrary. I am lucky to be a pale-faced person, born in Barcelona into a civilized family. If I have been sick, I have been sheltered and I have been able to move forward thanks to others. Many times failure exists because there is no network and, therefore, you don't have second chances. Unlike the posh people, who start a small business making Christmas baskets, they mess it up, but it doesn't matter and then they start a publishing house or whatever. I ask that people have opportunities, the more the better, and that is something that is done collectively. I don't believe in personal success and failure.

With the current success on television, are you considering leaving radio?

— No, no! I am who I am thanks to the radio, which allows you things that television doesn't. It supports complex, very interesting discourses, opens doors for you, new worlds... How can I leave the radio? Besides, I'm very cheap for them. If you knew what I earn at RAC1, you'd be quite surprised. I'm a total bargain. But I'd even do it for free, though I'm not saying that, they might call me to renegotiate... Radio is like having completed six university degrees. And I have it in my contract on television: this gentleman cannot leave RAC1. In fact, since we record Cara al show on Thursdays in Terrassa, if I have to rehearse things in the morning, Atresmedia has put a radio studio there for me. And, thanks to the management of RAC1 and the technical colleagues, I can do radio from there.