Messi Sues to Stay Out of Politics

MESSI FOR PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD

Lionel Messi gets his picture taken with hundreds of strangers every single day. It’s a minor miracle he hasn’t gone blind from all the flash bulbs.

But what happens when one of those strangers uses his picture to run for governor? He gets sued, that’s what.

The province of Salta is in the northwest corner of Argentina, on the border with Chile and Bolivia. It’s a fairly remote, arid region with a population just over a million. Poverty is rampant, unemployment is high, and political corruption is even higher, even by Latin American standards.

Alfredo Olmedo is a congressman from Salta who is running for governor this year. He recently plastered campaign posters (as shown above) all over Salta with the slogan “Yes to sports, no to drugs, Olmedo for governor.”

The poster also features one of Olmedo’s campaign proposals, dubbed “youth containment”, in which the province would pay the membership fees for children and teens to join their neighborhood club and receive “sports and cultural education.” Screw job creation and higher education, just keep them busy with ping pong and square dancing.

Olmedo has a flair for getting the media’s attention. He appeared a number of times on national TV in Argentina during the broadcast of the Boca v. River preseason game in January. He also became somewhat infamous for his inflammatory remarks following the passage of a national law legalizing gay marriage last year. He even campaigned to reinstate “la colimba”, compulsory military service for all men when they reach 18—a policy abandoned more than a decade ago.

Needless to say, Lio was less than amused to find out on the internet that his image was being used to help some slimeball politician run for office. His family was also pretty upset, so they fired up the lawsuit machine.

Messi’s attorney, Ricardo Giusepponi, initiated legal action against Olmedo’s campaign, suggesting that “…the photo could have been altered. Maybe it was taken at Ezeiza [the international airport in Buenos Aires], where so many people greet Lionel. I’m sure he didn’t know who Olmedo is or what he represents.”

He also added, “You can’t act in such a brazen manner. Messi doesn’t participate in politics nor is he supporting any candidates.”

Now that Olmedo will most likely have to remove those campaign posters, the solution is obvious: fly to Paris, take a picture with Eric Cantona, print up new posters.