Der Spiegel: C. Ronaldo confessed to have had non-consensual sex in 2009 document

[YEM]

Those tweets are disgraceful... I'm speechless.

It's shocking
like they made an attempt to use the most fallacious logic they could in those tweets

 

[HoseEmDown]

Why would he even admit she said no? Especially if it wasn't as consensual as he thought you can't admit something like that, that's just bad. Even murderers found with the weapon still on them deny they did it, not sure why he wouldn't have done the same?

 

[Juve]

Those tweets were definitely not thought out properly. They were probably better off not writing anything.

Why would he even admit she said no? Especially if it wasn't as consensual as he thought you can't admit something like that, that's just bad. Even murderers found with the weapon still on them deny they did it, not sure why he wouldn't have done the same?

I am wondering if the questionnaire is valid. From what I understood the questionnaire were emails sent between him and his lawyer. Those are things you don't write in an email. It's usually done face to face unless Ronaldo hired the worst lawyer possible.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Are you trying to get a job as Juve's social media guy?

No, but you go right ahead and say that he's guilty because there's no such thing as innocent until proven guilty anymore.

Those tweets were definitely not thought out properly. They were probably better off not writing anything.

I am wondering if the questionnaire is valid. From what I understood the questionnaire were emails sent between him and his lawyer. Those are things you don't write in an email. It's usually done face to face unless Ronaldo hired the worst lawyer possible.

He'd be a complete idiot to admit to that in print.

Why would he even admit she said no? Especially if it wasn't as consensual as he thought you can't admit something like that, that's just bad. Even murderers found with the weapon still on them deny they did it, not sure why he wouldn't have done the same?

Unless it was like I said that she was saying no but it was a rape fantasy type of a thing for her or who knows what then he basically admitted to rape and sealed his fate.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

No, but you go right ahead and say that he's guilty because there's no such thing as innocent until proven guilty anymore.

I don't see him in handcuffs. Neither Weinstein or any of the monsters out there in plain sight. What are you saying?

 

[Theokritos]

I am wondering if the questionnaire is valid.

That's the key question.

 

[Natey]

That's the key question.

Read that guys full tweets. He's also got extreme bias. He's a terrible journalist. Journalists can have opinions, but they should stay behind closed doors, not written in plain sight.

 

[bluesfan94]

No, but you go right ahead and say that he's guilty because there's no such thing as innocent until proven guilty anymore.

Yes there is. Feel free to go to a courthouse anywhere that’s doing criminal trials.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Yes there is. Feel free to go to a courthouse anywhere that’s doing criminal trials.

I was talking about the court of public opinion.

 

[bluesfan94]

I was talking about the court of public opinion.

The court of public opinion has never had that standard

 

[Bryanbryoil]

The court of public opinion has never had that standard

Or brains to be objective and wait for all of the facts to come out.

 

[les Habs]

Read that guys full tweets. He's also got extreme bias. He's a terrible journalist. Journalists can have opinions, but they should stay behind closed doors, not written in plain sight.

I'm curious as to your examples of "extreme bias" here. He's simply putting forth the story/evidence while also defending the reporting.

Or brains to be objective and wait for all of the facts to come out.

Well you'd be pretty stupid to wait for all the facts to come out since they likely never will. That said the supposed evidence looks really damning. Some of the evidence is captured emails where for example Ronaldo's legal team even admits to not reading him the letter they were supposed to do as part of the settlement and what's more apparently include an admission of guilt from him. It's not as though people are just reading an article and saying "he did it". There seems to be plenty there to back this up.

 

[les Habs]

A lot of famous/rich people settle out of court and get NDAs to avoid media speculation like this. It's sad, but in today's day and age it doesn't matter if you're innocent or not just the mention or accusation of something like that going public can heavily taint your reputation.

While that may be the case, I'd rather stake my reputation if I didn't do it rather than settle only for it to come out like this. This looks far worse than had he simply stood up for his "innocence" at the time. That's not to mention that Ronaldo could shoot someone and people would still be fans of him. It's not like the guy's reputation isn't already tainted though of course to a lesser degree.

I agree partly, but on the contrary, I'm also curious as to why women agree to a settlement and NDA with their alleged abusers, when they could potentially prevent it from happening to more women in the future. I guess that many women in that situation believe (rightfully so) it's too tough to prove the abuser's guilt and it's not worth the trouble of dealing with public scorn from fans of the abuser. It's just something hard to fully understand as someone not in that situation.

Either way, I'm all for waiting to see how the investigation unfolds before making any judgments.

My guess is they get bad legal advice and as you noted it's something that is difficult to prove.

 

[maclean]

I am wondering if the questionnaire is valid. From what I understood the questionnaire were emails sent between him and his lawyer. Those are things you don't write in an email. It's usually done face to face unless Ronaldo hired the worst lawyer possible.

It doesn't seem all that strange. Communications with your lawyer are subject to confidentiality. If you have a good relationship (i.e. are paying a lot) I think it is normal to approach the situation by being truthful with your lawyer about what actually happened and letting them do their job to then tell you what to say to cover your ass. Especially if you are a high-paid sports celebrity who is used to paying other people to take care of things for you. Your job is not to carefully consider things, your job is to perform in a limited setting and have other people take care of the details.

 

[Natey]

I'm curious as to your examples of "extreme bias" here. He's simply putting forth the story/evidence while also defending the reporting.

The last few, he clearly shows what side he's on. It's just unprofessional. I did journalism for a while, and don't like that style.

 

[bluesfan94]

Or brains to be objective and wait for all of the facts to come out.

Yup. That’s literally never happened either. It’s only the standard people throw out when powerful men get credibly accused of sexual assault. Otherwise the court of public opinion has no standards

 

[maclean]

The last few, he clearly shows what side he's on. It's just unprofessional. I did journalism for a while, and don't like that style.

The side of someone trying to dig the truth out of a situation where powerful people have a huge interest in not letting that truth come to light?

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Yup. That’s literally never happened either. It’s only the standard people throw out when powerful men get credibly accused of sexual assault. Otherwise the court of public opinion has no standards

You've never heard of people being falsely accused of rape regardless of social status? I'm sure that no woman has ever lied about rape for financial gain or out of spite ever. That takes nothing away from those that were actual victims who were brave enough to step forward, but let's not pretend that every rape claim was actually rape.

 

[The Abusement Park]

You've never heard of people being falsely accused of rape regardless of social status? I'm sure that no woman has ever lied about rape for financial gain or out of spite ever. That takes nothing away from those that were actual victims who were brave enough to step forward, but let's not pretend that every rape claim was actually rape.

I mean that’s of course something that happens all too frequently unfortunately. But I mean there’s not a lot of evidence going in CR7’s favor.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I mean that’s of course something that happens all too frequently unfortunately. But I mean there’s not a lot of evidence going in CR7’s favor.

That is my entire point, if people didn't fabricate these accusations as much as they do it would be far easier to have more faith in the claims. I have not been keeping up with this, but if he did confess and it was on a questionnaire and it became public, wouldn't that basically ruin his right for a fair trial? Wouldn't his law firm be liable to be sued as well? I see someone that says that she said no but was willing so it could be that it was role playing in his mind and in her mind baiting him into blackmail. Again, I'd wait until everyone has their say before condemning either party. Has there been any other alleged victims coming out about him? Does he have a history of such things? I honestly don't know.

 

[East Coast Bias]

That is my entire point, if people didn't fabricate these accusations as much as they do it would be far easier to have more faith in the claims. I have not been keeping up with this, but if he did confess and it was on a questionnaire and it became public, wouldn't that basically ruin his right for a fair trial? Wouldn't his law firm be liable to be sued as well? I see someone that says that she said no but was willing so it could be that it was role playing in his mind and in her mind baiting him into blackmail. Again, I'd wait until everyone has their say before condemning either party. Has there been any other alleged victims coming out about him? Does he have a history of such things? I honestly don't know.

Is this really a thing beyond people saying it's a thing?

Is there a measurable epidemic of this?

 

[Blender]

Is this really a thing beyond people saying it's a thing?

Is there a measurable epidemic of this?

Epidemic? No. Less than 10% of all accusations from any credible source I can find. FBI says 8%, 2-10% from a US study, in Britain false accusations rarely reach criminal proceedings, etc. The number of unreported or unpunished sexual assaults far outweighs any false accusations (US estimates only 35% of assaults are even reported), and it's a myth that a large number of men are being punished for false accusations.

The truth about false assault accusations

 

[East Coast Bias]

Epidemic? No. Less than 10% of all accusations from any credible source I can find. FBI says 8%, 2-10% from a US study, in Britain false accusations rarely reach criminal proceedings, etc. The number of unreported or unpunished sexual assaults far outweighs any false accusations, and it's a myth that a large number of men are being punished for false accusations.

The truth about false assault accusations

Yeah I know. I'm just waiting for evidence among people who push this narrative that everyone keeps getting falsely destroyed.

 

[Burner Account]

As a PR professional, I cannot wrap my head around Juve's tweets. There has to be some kind of pressure/threat from the Ronaldo camp demanding support from the club. I refuse to believe a publicly traded company would be that stupid on its own.

 

[KJS14]

It doesn't seem all that strange. Communications with your lawyer are subject to confidentiality. If you have a good relationship (i.e. are paying a lot) I think it is normal to approach the situation by being truthful with your lawyer about what actually happened and letting them do their job to then tell you what to say to cover your ass. Especially if you are a high-paid sports celebrity who is used to paying other people to take care of things for you. Your job is not to carefully consider things, your job is to perform in a limited setting and have other people take care of the details.

It's strange in the sense that a high-profile lawyer should have the sense to ask those questions in person, rather than in a manner that provides documentation that could admit guilt. But it wouldn't be the strangest thing to have happened.

My guess is they get bad legal advice and as you noted it's something that is difficult to prove.

That's a good point as well, and I believe in this case she even said that she hired a cheap, inexperienced lawyer. It's definitely hard to prove guilt in these cases which is why unpunished sexual assaults are more common than false accusations as @Blender said.