Jorginho 'sets record straight' in new statement on Chappell Roan incident that left daughter 'in tears'
Jorginho has released a lengthy statement to clarify that pop star Chappell Roan had "no knowledge" of an incident in which a security guard reduced his 11-year-old daughter to tears.
Last month, the former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder claimed that an employee of Roan's had confronted his wife Catherine Harding and their daughter Ada over breakfast at a hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Jorginho claimed the incident took place after the 11-year-old recognised the singer, who had been staying in Sao Paulo while performing at Lollapalooza festival.
According to the Flamengo midfielder, Ada spotted Roan in the breakfast area of the hotel and 'simply walked past the singer's table, looked to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to sit with her mum'.
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"What happened next was completely disproportionate," he said at the time.
"A large security guard came over to their table while they were still having breakfast and began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife and my daughter, saying that she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people."
After a significant amount of backlash, Roan responded by claiming the bodyguard involved was not part of her team. She also said that she felt "sad for the mother and child" who "did not deserve that".
Jorginho 'sets record straight' in new statement on Chappell Roan incident
This week, Jorginho issued a new statement on the matter, which he now considers to be "closed".
“I would like to give an update on what happened during Lolla weekend, as we have been seeing and hearing a lot over the past few weeks and felt it was important to clarify everything now that new information has come to light,” he wrote.
“I made my initial statement in the heat of the moment, after hearing that my child and wife had been approached by an adult male security guard in an intimidating way. I reacted as any father would. My priority is, and always will be, protecting my family, and that is exactly what I did.”
"I also want to make clear that the situation did occur as it was originally described. At the time, we acted on the information that was available to us.
"Since then, I have become aware of new information that has changed my understanding of parts of what happened. Chappell Roan made a public statement, reached out privately to Catherine, and our teams also spoke directly.
"It became clear that she had no knowledge of what took place at breakfast and had not asked anyone to approach them. She was understanding and sympathetic to what had happened to our child."
"The security guard himself has since confirmed publicly that he was representing another artist at the hotel at the time," he continued.
"While we still do not know what prompted him to approach them, and do not believe an 11-year-old at breakfast could reasonably be seen as any kind of security threat, it is now clear that he was not acting on behalf of Chappell.
"It was, ultimately, a misunderstanding in that respect, and I am glad to set the record straight. It's important to me that this is clarified fairly and accurately. I regret the impact this situation has had on Chappell Roan, Catherine, Ada, and our family.
"I will always stand up for my family. But I also know how to recognize when things were not quite what they seemed at first.
"Thank you for the support we received during this sensitive moment. I do, however, want to make one thing very clear: I do not support or encourage hate speech or online attacks from any side. Respect, empathy, and humility are values I carry and teach my family every single day."
He added: "As far as I am concerned, this matter is closed."
Jack Kenmare