On Monday, on the Antena 3 program And now Sonsoles, They brought back the protagonist of one of the most popular memes on social media when summer arrives. These are television images, captured live thirteen years ago, of a boy swimming in a pool in his town. A reporter interviews him to ask if he enjoys the facilities, and the boy, effusively, says with disdain that it's very nice, compared to other pools in Teruel. "They're full of Panchitos and Cubans." Every time bathing season returns, the images are revived, seeking the comic relief of that racist spontaneity.
More than a decade later, Sonsoles invited Álvaro to explain his personal drama. "We'll explain how his life became hell," warned the presenter. The boy, now twenty-six, appeared at the program's table. He explained that the virality of that scene had led to threats and harassment from strangers and that he had been marginalized throughout his school years. He admitted that he had had to go through seventeen different trials, accused of xenophobia and racism. It's obvious that the case stimulates debate about the use of minors on television, the exploitation of their images in the digital world, and also the right to be forgotten on the internet. But what was jarring was the television treatment he received. They made him a victim and played sad music in the background to give the story a tragic tone. "For an out-of-context remark, he was judged by a society that never allowed him to explain himself," read a summary video. Both the presenter and the other panelists referred to it as an "innocent comment" or "unfortunate words" and emphasized the long-standing suffering the images had caused his family.
At no point did anyone ask him what he thought of his own words now, whether he understood the gravity of his comment, or whether he was aware of the racism surrounding the story. They avoided the term "racist." A racism that has served to perpetuate the video's virality, attributing a comical interpretation to it. One of the program's contributors even apologized, admitting to having laughed at that scene without reflecting on the personal drama behind it. However, neither Sonsoles Ónega nor her team invited him to apologize or reflect on his comment, or to explain that, with age, he had understood the implications of his television appearance. Because this melodrama of victimhood also needed a critical counterpoint.
But what is even more absurd is that now, after this supposed hell, this individual decides to publicly link himself to the images again and that at twenty-six years old, he is once again identified as the protagonist of that comment. Rather, he seemed eager to perpetuate himself as the star of the video and maintain a certain amount of local popularity.
