Fox Sports was roundly criticized Saturday as Alexi Lalas and Stu Holden appeared in traditional Qatari dress in a segment with influencer and Qatar Football Association consultant ‘Mr. Q.’
In the clip, the social media personality (real name is Khalifa Al Haroon), who posts Qatar-friendly content on his Instagram, exchanges kisses with Lalas and Holden before giving his thoughts on the tournament and claiming Qatar has tried to ’embrace other people’s cultures.’
‘I’m feeling sad,’ he said on the eve of the final between France and Argentina.
Alexi Lalas, Khalifa Al Haroon and Stu Holden dawn thawbs on the FOX Soccer set
‘Because first of all I don’t wanna see all these amazing people leave Qatar, because everyone’s just having fun right? And then second of all, I mean it’s been a game that has proven time and time again that you should expect the unexpected.
‘Seeing people like yourself dressed up in our thawb, in our national dress – it’s just really nice to see that people are embracing our culture, just as we’re trying to embrace other people’s cultures.’
Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup has been hugely condemned due to its outlawing of homosexuality and alleged mistreatment of stadium builders in the lead up to the tournament.
‘Mr. Q’ has over 107k Instagram followers and makes video content about the country
Thousands of workers are reported to have died building the stadiums, with numbers ranging between 1,200, according to The Wall Street Journal and as many as 6,500 per The Guardian.
Given that context, fans did not take kindly to the cozy display between Lalas, Holden and Al Haroon.
‘Jesus…. There’s no coming back from this. Hope the money was worth it,’ one tweeted.
‘Only 2 more days of qatari propaganda from fox,’ another said.
‘Participation is everything. Dressing like a Qatari and ’embracing’ their anti-gay, homophobic culture. Thank you for showing your cards @AlexiLalas and @stuholden. I expect nothing less from @FOXSoccer,’ another raged.
Al Haroon, who previously appeared on FOX to discuss ‘the importance of dates in Qatar’s culture’, has over 107k followers on Twitter and Instagram and uses the handle @iloveqatar on both platforms.
He has previously chafed at perceived misreporting on Qatar.
‘When it comes to fake news, obviously, I think everybody understands that it’s not true and so the only thing that I could do is show people videos and pictures and show them what we’re really like because you can trust your own eyes,’ he told AFP.
With FOX’s coverage of the tournament being sponsored by Qatar Airways – the nation’s state-owned airline – Saturday’s clip is one in a large group of favorable content about the Gulf Nation.
Other videos have featured Lalas and Holden ‘learn[ing] about the metal music scene in Qatar,’ riding horses and visiting Georgetown University in Qatar.
Al Haroon and Holden exchange kisses on the FOX Soccer set
Those videos are marked by the FOX Soccer Twitter account as being sponsored by Qatar Tourism, and a clip of Lalas and Holden being fitted for the thawbs they wore with Al Haroon was led by the following remarks by host Rob Stone.
‘The nation of Qatar opened its door to the world for the past four weeks,’ he said. They’ve taught us how to dune bash and properly enjoy coffee and dates, and the history of pearl diving.’
‘Bring on the hypocrisy, sanctimony, judgment, and ridiculousness,’ Lalas said while sharing the video to his own account.
The executive producer of FOX’s World Cup coverage, David Neal, previously said ‘we firmly believe the viewers come to us to see what happens on the field, on the pitch,’ though that calculation now appears incorrect.
While outlets like the BBC and Telemundo have focused on issues off the field, FOX has declined to cover the alleged mistreatment of migrant workers.