EA appears to have removed Ronaldo from its promo material.
Cristiano Ronaldo is facing accusations of sexual assault from a Las Vegas woman, Kathryn Mayorga, accusations which originally appeared in German magazine Der Spiegel in 2017 and did so again in an an interview with Mayorga published in Der Spiegel last weekend.
Ronaldo has publicly denied the accusations.
It now appears that gaming giant EA Sports, who produce the FIFA games, have removed Ronaldo from online promotional images for the game.
Ronaldo, perhaps the most high profile footballer on the planet, had originally been the face of the game — which was released just two weeks ago.
https://twitter.com/fraporzio95/status/1048149496696360960
The move follows a statement that the gaming company made days ago, which read: “We have seen the concerning report that details allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo. We are closely monitoring the situation, as we expect cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values".
That statement stands in stark contrast to the statement released by Ronaldo's club Juventus, who have been roundly criticised for
their response on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/juventusfcen/status/1047912523494842370
https://twitter.com/juventusfcen/status/1047912694832123905
It was confirmed earlier this week that the Las Vegas Police Department had reopened an investigation into sexual assault claims made in
June 2009.
Most recently, Ronaldo has been left out of Portugal's most recent international squad for games against Poland and Scotland later this month.
