• MomenTVs Pablo Motos heats up and explodes against Pedro Sánchez: "I'm ashamed to be Spanish"

In recent weeks, many voices have spoken out about amnesty, the cancellation of Catalonia's debt and the situation in Spain after the investiture agreement reached by Pedro Sánchez with Carles Puigdemont. Tomorrow and Thursday will be the investiture and, probably, nothing else will be reported or discussed. In El Hormiguero they have been dedicating some of the minutes of the program to analyze, criticize and give their opinion on this situation. Until now, only the comments of collaborators or Pablo Motos himself had been heard, until last night. Until Josep Pedrerol arrived and without any hesitation he sent a brutal message to Pedro Sánchez that few public figures, few journalists would dare to do. Not because of what he said, but because of how he said it.

The director and presenter of Jugones and El Chiringuito de Jugones was not sure what he was doing last night at El Hormiguero. In fact, it was sitting in front of Pablo Motos and it was the first thing he said to him: "I don't really understand what I'm doing here because I don't have anything to present or promote." He is right. It is true that his program has turned 10 years old, "good reason to go to El Hormiguero", but Pedrerol was clear that he is not one of the stars who usually goes to Pablo Motos' program. Well, last night, without being one of those stars, it stirred up the hornet's nest like no other.

To have Josep Pedrerol on the programme and not ask him about amnesty would have been a mistake. Not only because he is Catalan and is aware, knowing him a little, what his position was going to be regarding the amnesty, but, above all, because if there is one thing that characterises Josep Pedrerol, it is that what he thinks he is going to say without half measures. Maybe he'll exaggerate it, make a show, control the television times, raise it to the top of the information zenith, but he's going to say it. And that's what he did last night, surprising Pablo Motos himself, who after his answer could only say "that's it".

The night started by talking about football. It couldn't be any other way. About football, about footballers, about rivalries, about El Chiringuito. All right, normal. When asked by Pablo Motos what was different about El Chiringuito that made it so special compared to other similar programs, Pedrerol said what any director of a program would say about his program, without further ado: "Because we are real, because we screw up, we make mistakes and we give news. And we accompany people. Even those who don't like football." I wasn't going to promote anything, but since I was...

The passions that Pedrerol shows every afternoon and night came into play, and never better said. He confessed, although he has already done it many times and still doesn't believe him, that he is a Barça fan, but that if he plays badly he will say it and that if "Madrid plays against a foreign team I want Madrid to win".

"Football brings people together," he said when Pablo Motos pointed out to him the philias and phobias that football carries. "When you don't know what to talk about, football is a resource. It's a human debate and it's not harmful," Pedrerol said. And he says this with full knowledge of the facts, because he experiences it on the street when people come to him. He assures that most people continue to ask him if he is a Real Madrid fan or if he is a Barça fan and that, with the exception of a few, what people always show him "is a lot of affection". "There are a lot of people who I'm sure don't like me because I say what I want and there are people who don't understand it and it doesn't sit well with them," said the sports journalist. Stick with this phrase, because yes, Pedrerol says what he wants and he doesn't care if he doesn't feel good.

Josep Pedrerol's ticking tock

And so, taking advantage of the fact that the Pisuerga passes through Valladolid, Pablo Motos showed him a video of Qatari citizens repeating Pedrerol's famous "tick, tock" and praising El Chiringuito. "The ticking came four years ago when Mbappe was supposed to come to Real Madrid," Pedrerol said.

"It was born in Jugones at three o'clock in the afternoon and it occurred to me with the editors of the program to start that day with the ticking to say that Mbappé was close," he said. Of course, "I think the ticking will end this year in the summer," he announced, to which Pablo Motos asked him if he had new information to affirm it with such certainty. "I have the same information as I did three years ago. It's good, but four years ago Mbappe changed his mind. Everything was done and with 15 days to go he disappears due to the pressure of his club, of the president of the Republic and changes. And Florentino says 'this Mbappé is not my Mbappé'. Now there are madridistas who don't like him but will change their minds," said the sports journalist.

And Pedrerol got wet again. He did so when Pablo Motos asked him who he thought was the better player, Mbappé or Bellingham. Pedrerol didn't hesitate for half a second: "Bellingham." "Bellingham," he repeated, "not even Messi, Messi is the recent past, he has been one of the best in history, but Bellingham is an elegant player, he is something else, everyone likes him, he is a happy guy and I think the players need to understand that they are lucky and smile more."

He also didn't mince words when Pablo Motos asked him about the controversy between streamers and longtime journalists. To every sports journalist who has come to El Hormiguero, Pablo Motos has always asked them about this controversy born from the idea that streamers are taking the jobs of sports journalists of pure stock. Well, surprise, once again Pedrerol didn't shut up or follow the line of many of his teammates.

For Pedrerol, streamers "are no threat": "Footballers have other channels of communication and do interviews with streamers that are less aggressive, like yours." Boom! "Well, mine, except for the politicians," Motos replied. "With Sánchez and Feijóo I have to tell you that you were very good," Pedrerol replied. The way was being paved. Politics had come into play and the one who warns...

And as usually happens in El Hormiguero, suddenly you show a video of Josep Pedrerol suffering in Fernando Alonso's car at 290 km/h and then you move on to the question that upsets everyone, everyone except Josep Pedrerol: "I want to ask you a question as a Catalan because what is happening is very worrying: How are you living this moment?" That's it.

Pedrerol could have dodged it, he could have answered with a brief answer, he could not have entered the puddle, he could have chosen many options, but no, he chose to respond without biting his tongue, without hesitation and throwing a message to Pedro Sánchez looking at the camera that left many in tatters.

Josep Pedrerol's pain in El Hormiguero

"I don't want to believe it's true what's going to happen," he began. Pedrerol explained that with the referendum he had a very hard time arguing with the family, that "society was divided in two and it seems that now that is happening throughout Spain."

"I don't think anyone will trade for seven votes," he continued, referring no doubt to Sánchez's agreement with Puigdemont to come out dressed. "Cancelling the debt of 15,000 million to Catalonia... And when is the train going to Extremadura? I travel all over Spain. I feel Catalan and Spanish and I don't want them to think that I'm unsupportive of the rest of Spain when they see me because that's not what Catalans are. That's a group of pro-independence supporters." It couldn't be clearer.

"It hurts me," Pedrerol said. And it hurts him because "the conflict was over, the independence movement had gone down, it was disappeared and now people are talking about it again". And then, Pedrerol addressed himself not to Pedro Sánchez but to all the socialist parliamentarians: "I ask the socialist parliamentarian who is in the Parliament of Castilla La Mancha, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia... Are you going to vote in favor of amnesty? Are you going to vote against your people? I know that voting is compulsory in the party, but a parliamentarian from Cáceres has been voted for by his people. We have to think about the people around and people vote for you to help them."

Pedrerol could have ended up here. He had said more than enough, the message was more than clear. The silence of Pablo Motos, of the audience, had accompanied him, surely with the sincerity of the journalist, but it was not over. He looked at the camera, serious, as when he had an exclusive in El Chiringuito and sent a very clear message to Pedro Sánchez: "Pedro, you have time to think about what you are going to do on Wednesday and Thursday".

Pablo Motos could only add a "that's it". Well, that's it.

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