FIFA President Gianni Infantino raised eyebrows on Saturday when he attempted to show empathy with marginalised groups by telling reporters in Qatar ‘I feel gay … I feel like a migrant worker’.
Infantino opened the traditional pre-World Cup news conference on Saturday with a lengthy monologue lambasting the critics of Qatar hosting the tournament because of the country’s human rights record.
AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Nov 19 (Reuters) – FIFA President Gianni Infantino raised eyebrows on Saturday when he attempted to show empathy with marginalised groups by telling reporters in Qatar ‘I feel gay … I feel like a migrant worker’.
Infantino opened the traditional pre-World Cup news conference on Saturday with a lengthy monologue lambasting the critics of Qatar hosting the tournament because of the country’s human rights record. read more
“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel (like) a vagrant. Today I feel (like) a migrant worker,” he said.
“I feel all of this because what I see … brings me back to my personal story.”
Infantino then detailed how he had grown up as the child of migrant workers in Switzerland and had been bullied for his accent and for having red hair and freckles.
“Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled,” he later added.