“YOU ARE INSULTING ME BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN (…). HONOR YOUR FRENCH CITIZENSHIP AND APOLOGIZE.”
Celeste Amarilla has now published a remarkable open letter to Kylian Mbappé 🇫🇷 following his response to her racist remarks:
> “The issue is between YOU AND ME.
I never said anything against France. On the contrary, I support France. I attended a French school from the age of 2 until I was 17, where I completed my education.
I am who I am thanks to the Immaculate Conception College and the education it gave me. We sang La Marseillaise and honored the French flag alongside our own. I speak French and I love visiting France. Last Christmas, I spent the holidays with my family in Courchevel and welcomed the New Year in Saint-Tropez. This has nothing to do with France.
THE PROBLEM IS WITH YOU.
Your arrogance and contempt made me angry long before the match, when you said, ‘If we have to get our hands dirty, then let’s do it.’ We are not stupid. We clearly understood that by ‘the mud,’ you meant the Paraguayan team, and that team represents all of us.
Then you said you were going to ‘wipe off our makeup.’ We understood that too. All of Paraguay remained silent, myself included. We endured it.
During the match, your arrogance was obvious. Your contempt for every Paraguayan player was clear, as though they were beneath you. Without even covering your mouth, you shouted, ‘La concha de tu madre,’ an extremely offensive insult in Latin America—and you know it.
Finally, you showed complete disregard for the health of our goalkeeper. That is simply not something you do. Respect between rivals after a match is almost sacred, in war or in peace, in defeat or in victory. Yet you refused to shake his hand and celebrated your victory in his face. In a single moment, you displayed contempt, arrogance, and a lack of manners. That hurt me, it hurt my entire country, and it hurt deeply.
(…)
My posts were written in the heat of the moment, with my blood boiling—the blood of a mixed heritage, a beautiful blend of Indigenous and Spanish ancestry that runs through my veins.
I wrote them after seeing you mock those extraordinary Paraguayan players who fought on equal terms until the final whistle.
However, I immediately regretted responding with the same insults that I myself receive. I realized I was repeating the very behavior I despise, so I deleted the post.
(…)
Now I demand that YOU ALSO WITHDRAW your statements and apologize to me.
I will not tolerate your violence either. You do not know me. You have no idea who I am, and you have NO RIGHT to call me a hateful woman who is unworthy of the office I hold.
I am a Senator of the Paraguayan Nation, elected by the people. Thousands of Paraguayan men and women voted for me and regard me as their voice. My primary duty is to speak on behalf of the Paraguayan people.
I represent my country because I was freely elected.
(…)
Who are you to call me unworthy or hateful when you do not even know me? This is obvious gender-based violence. It is POLITICAL VIOLENCE against a woman who earned her position through the democratic vote of her people. You insult me because I am a woman.
(…)
Withdraw your statements, honor your French citizenship, and apologize. Otherwise, I may pursue legal action for gender-based violence.
Celeste Amarilla
Senator of the Paraguayan Nation.”
The world has truly been turned upside down.
📲 X
Celeste Amarilla has now published a remarkable open letter to Kylian Mbappé following his response to her racist remarks
