FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Saturday raised eyebrows when he attempted to show empathy with marginalized groups by telling reporters in Qatar: “I feel gay ... I feel like a migrant worker.”
Infantino opened the traditional pre-FIFA World Cup news conference with an almost hour-long monologue lambasting the critics of Qatar hosting the tournament.
Speaking after months of concern over the country’s treatment of migrant workers, anger at its LGBTQ laws and doubts over the legitimacy of the decision to hold the tournament there, Infantino said it was wrong for Europe to lecture the Qataris.
“For what we Europeans have been doing for the past 3,000 years, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years,” he said.
Infantino said there have been improvements in the way migrant workers are treated, partly due to the engagement that has happened as a result of the World Cup.
Infantino said his experience as the son of Italian migrants in Switzerland enabled him to understand what it meant to be bullied as a foreigner in a foreign country.
“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker,” he said. “As a child at school I was bullied because I had red hair and freckles. Plus I was Italian, so imagine.”
After a last-minute change on Friday to the rules on alcohol sales at the event, there are fears that other regulations might also be altered.
Infantino tried to reassure the LGBTQ community, saying: “Gay people are welcome in Qatar.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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