Is the Cristiano Ronaldo rape allegation football’s #MeToo moment?

One of the main reasons the German magazine Der Spiegel cites for Kathryn Mayorga speaking to them and going public with her rape allegation against Cristiano Ronaldo — which he strongly denies — is that she was inspired by the #MeToo movement.

When American actress Alyssa Milano encouraged other victims of sexual assault to come forward under the #MeToo hashtag in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, in which he was accused of decades of harassment, molestation and rape (which he denies), Mayorga spent hours reading women’s accounts online of what they went through and was empowered to seek her own redress for an incident in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel which she claims was sexual assault and Ronaldo insists was consensual, but she claims he paid for her silence anyway.

Hollywood inspiration

Mayorga, an American former model and teacher, saw famous actresses including Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence and Uma Thurman come forward and speak publicly as the #MeToo movement rapidly gathered pace and, almost a year to the day the New York Times revealed the first strands of the Weinstein story which continues to unravel today, Mayorga has gone public herself. Is this football’s #MeToo moment?

The phenomenon has prompted politics, the music industry, academia, the sciences and scores of other professions and fields around the world to take a reflective look at themselves and the behaviour of men towards women in their environments.

But until Mayorga broke her silence at the weekend, on advice of a new lawyer that the alleged gagging order against her is not legally binding, football has, so far, avoided such scrutiny; a world which is up there with Hollywood and the music industry as the place to find extraordinarily wealthy, powerful and famous men, in which Ronaldo is as wealthy, powerful and famous as they come.

Deluge of new claims

Another of the reasons Mayorga came forward is that she is curious to discover if others had been allegedly sexually assaulted by Ronaldo and if they, too, will be inspired to come forward.

When the New York Times first revealed in October last year that former media mogul Weinstein had spent decades paying for the silence of women who accused him of sexual harassment — at the time at least eight settlements were known about — what followed was a deluge of new claims against him and six months later he had handed himself into New York police and was charged with rape and sexual abuse against two women.

Weinstein’s case remains ongoing. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and not guilty in a third sex assault case. In the UK, last month the Metropolitan Police said they had received a further allegation of sexual assault, said to have taken place in the early 1990s, from an 11th woman coming forward.

But the lack of conclusion to the Weinstein scandal did not stop the dam breaking and a flood of claims — from women and men — sweeping the entire film industry, as more and more people came forward. And more and more people joined the swell elsewhere.

Strong denials

It is still very early days in this story for Ronaldo, and he and his German lawyer have issued strong denials. He claims the sex was consensual.

“What they said today, fake — fake news,” Ronaldo, 33, said in a video on Instagram. “They want to promote by my name. It’s normal. They want to be famous — to say my name. Yeah but it’s part of the job. I’m [a] happy man and all, all good.” (An extraordinary claim that somebody could further their career by claiming rape against a famous person.)

Lawyer Christian Schertz said: “It violates the personal rights of our client Cristiano Ronaldo in an exceptionally serious way. This is an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy.” Schertz says they will sue Der Spiegel although did not follow through with similar threats when the magazine first reported the non-disclosure agreement last year [2017].

Whatever the outcome of these allegations, Mayorga claims Ronaldo paid her $375,000 (around £287,000) for her silence almost a decade ago.

Even though the version of events of the night of June 12, 2009 when the pair met in a Las Vegas nightclub, are contested by Ronaldo, whatever occurred she claims he paid her off. Another rich, powerful, seemingly untouchable man paying what at the time, on the verge of a move from Manchester United to Real Madrid, amounted to roughly a week’s wages to potentially sensor some very serious accusations.

Mayorga’s actions in flaunting the apparent agreement could reach much further into the darkest corners of football than merely where one superstar player sits, surrounded by lawyers, if others are empowered to come forward for the first time, too.