Famous soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo accused of rape
Nick Aldrich, Staff Writer
Yet another celebrity has been presented with rape allegations. This time it’s Cristiano Ronaldo; one of the biggest soccer superstars on the planet. Ronaldo has denied the accusation, having this to say on Twitter: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.”
True to his word, Ronaldo has stayed relative quiet on the controversy, only issuing one more tweet claiming his innocence since the accusation was given. Despite Ronaldo’s silence on the accusations, he has been heavily criticized for his actions on the platform, with many supporters of the #MeToo movement attacking the athlete for his alledged involvement in sexual assaulting a woman nine years ago.
The person accusing Ronaldo is Katherine Mayorga, who claims that the athlete raped her nine years ago in his Las Vegas penthouse suite. Despite denying Ronaldo’s advances, Mayorga said she was sexually assaulted by the athlete in 2009. Apparently the woman has struggled with post-traumatic stress since the incident, and her lawyers have stated that she was recently diagnosed with PTSD and depression. Mayorga claims that she suffered months of severe emotional stress, and that she was approached and coerced by representatives of Ronaldo into settling for a payment of $375,000. According to the civil lawsuit that was filed on Sept. 27, Mayorga alleges that Ronaldo raped her in his penthouse suite at a hotel in Las Vegas, and then hired a team of “fixers” to coerce Mayorga into staying quiet. Mayorga claims that the athlete forced her to have sex with him, despite her repeated protests.
This lawsuit has affected the superstar in a variety of ways. He has recently been left off of Portugal’s national soccer team squad for 2018 because of the allegations. Sportswear company Nike has also been questioning their association with the athlete. While they have not dropped him from their brand completely, the company has expressed their concerns. Nike is very cautious about having a deal with an athlete who is being faced with such vile accusations.”
Right now the only evidence that has been released to the evidence is the victim’s testimony, but prosecutors are supposedly examining documents related to the incident, including Maryorga’s initial police report and medical records from her sexual assault examination.
