Morocco. Cristiano Ronaldo “helped the victims” of the earthquake? We explain

The number of victims of the earthquake that hit northern Morocco on the night of September 8-9 is still rising. According to reports from 9/11, almost 2,500 people are dead. Emergency services have difficulty reaching the remote, mountainous areas affected by the tragedy. On September 9 and in the following days, many world and Polish sports information services reported that Cristiano Ronaldo had joined in helping the injured. The Portuguese footballer currently playing for the Saudi club Al-Nassr owns a four-star hotel in Marrakesh – according to reports, he was supposed to make it available to the victims. The context of some of these messages indicated that he was supposed to offer free accommodation.

“Earthquake in Morocco. Ronaldo helped the victims” – he reported on September 9 in the title of the text service sportfakty.wp.pl, referring to the Spanish television RTVE. The text itself is quite enigmatic. We only learn that “even Cristiano Ronaldo stepped in to help the victims of the earthquake.” “Local hotels have opened their doors to those in need. According to the Spanish television RTVE, there is also a facility built by Cristiano Ronaldo in this group,” we read. What this help would consist of and whether it was disinterested, has not been explained.

However, the titles on other websites were strongly suggestive. “A great gesture by Cristiano Ronaldo. This is how he supported the victims of the tragedy in Morocco” – reported September 10, matchyki.pl. “A great gesture from a Moroccan hotel. Its owner is Cristiano Ronaldo. Class” – that’s it title sport.pl from September 11.

Service On September 10, Sport.interia.pl discussed the reports of the Spanish website Marca.com. “The Portuguese made his hotel in Marrakech – the four-star Pestana CR7 – available to the victims. The facility was immediately filled with people who lost their roof over their heads, and often also their livelihoods” – we read in the article. The website recalls the account of a Spanish woman injured in the crash. “We managed to find a room at the Cristiano Ronaldo Hotel, on the outskirts of Marrakech. We slept in the street all night and at seven in the morning they told us we could come here. There are many people of different nationalities in the lobby,” she said.

Different websites cited different Spanish-language sources. However, all of them – more or less precisely – wrote about the help that Cristiano Ronaldo was supposed to give to the victims of the earthquake. Some media reported on “making the hotel available”, others on “providing shelter” to the victims. The texts written in this way suggested that the footballer was personally involved in helping, and the help was free. Information that “Ronaldo gave shelter to the victims of a natural disaster in Morocco” also appeared on social media, including on Facebook.

In the social media of Cristian Ronaldo himself, we did not find information about providing shelter to the victims. Representatives of the hotel called media reports about the creation of a shelter for earthquake victims in the hotel false information.

IN article of September 9, the Spanish website Marca.com reported in the headline: “Cristiano Ronaldo’s hotel on the outskirts of Marrakesh is operating as a refuge after the earthquake in Morocco.” The article said that the victims of the earthquake sought shelter and found it, among others, in the footballer’s hotel.

A video of the Spanish TV station RTVE was embedded in the text – a fragment of an interview with a Spanish woman injured in the earthquake. It was probably her words that were directly or indirectly referred to by the authors of the texts about “help” provided by Cristiano Ronaldo. Marca discusses the interview: the woman does not mention the footballer’s involvement in helping; talks about a successful attempt to find shelter in the Pestana CR7 Marrakech hotel, which belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo.

We listened to the woman’s statement. “We have just achieved that at the Cristiano Ronaldo Hotel, which is located in Marrakech, they will give us a room and now we are waiting. We slept all night in the street and now at seven in the morning they told us that we can come and they will try to give us a room as soon as possible. right now we are in the foyer with many people from different countries waiting to see if we can get a room, but we all slept on the street.” She uses the phrase “we managed to get” a room, but we do not know from her statements whether it was as part of a regular service or free of charge.

An article similar to Marca.com was published by the online service of Spanish radio COPE. Some media also referred to this source. The website discussed the same statement made by a Spanish tourist for RTVE. The author of the text concluded that the hotel providing shelter to the victims “is a wonderful gesture” – and this sentence could mislead readers.

Cristiano Ronaldo on Instagram expressed his solidarity with the victims: “My deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those who lost their lives in the earthquake in Morocco. I send love and prayers to everyone in Morocco at this very difficult time” – he wrote in Stories.

We tried to contact the Pestana Hotel Group to confirm the media reports about Ronaldo’s “great gesture”, but we did not receive a response to the publication of the text. However, it worked French Check News operating within the website of the daily “Liberation” and the Israeli website YNet News.

Check News confirms that many media reported on the alleged transformation of the Portuguese’s hotel into a shelter for earthquake victims. For example, the daily “Le Figaro” changed its original one over time title Text from “Earthquake in Morocco: Cristiano Ronaldo transforms his hotel into a shelter” to “Earthquake in Morocco: Tourists take refuge in Cristiano Ronaldo Hotel”.

Pestana CR7 told Check News that the hotel had not been converted into a shelter or earthquake relief center. “This is false information. All customers we have at the moment have made reservations in the normal way,” it said. In turn, to the Israeli website YNet News the hotel representative wrote back: “We have received many requests to accommodate people because the hotel was not affected by the earthquake. Many guests arrived in the last day, but we cannot say that we are hosting refugees and victims.”