In Argentina, there are things that are not forgiven. Adorni chose to mess with one of the biggest: ignoring Maradona. It was in August 2024, when he tried to celebrate the International Left Handed Day Not to mention the most left-handed of all Argentines, and things turned out the way they should.
It was Tuesday the 13th. Javier Milei’s then presidential spokesperson displayed his list of tributes from the Casa Rosada press room with the ease of someone who believes he has everything under control. He greeted Lionel Messito Angel Di Mariato Emanuel Ginobilito Sergio “Maravilla” Martínezto Guillermo Vilas. Then, as if the list had always been complete, he turned to the musicians: Gustavo Cerati, Charlie Garcia. “Great left-handers who in these cases did contribute to the greatness of Argentina,” he said, without noticing the cliff he had just opened with that word: in these cases.
The journalists in the room were quick to point out the omission. Adorni’s response was recorded for the small history of Kirchnerism and anti-Kirchnerism alike: “Ah… Yes, I was left-handed. Well, that’s it for me, gentlemen.”. A phrase that, in any other country, would have passed without pain or glory. In Argentina, it was almost a declaration of war.
The reaction was immediate and transversal. Hector “El Negro” Enrique, Juan Sebastian Veron and Fernando Signorini —names that in this country do not need a surname to be heard—they responded harshly. But the one who gave him the most accurate blow was Dalma Maradonafrom the Bondi streaming: “Should I answer the Muppet or not? It’s not necessary.” And then, to close the matter with the sharp elegance that is his own: “You don’t exist Muppet, my dad does.”
Adorni tried the classic maneuver of the official in trouble: explain, contextualize, minimize. She said she had been a chicana without a microphone with a journalist friend. That they were missing “a lot more” athletes. That the omission had been “a misinterpretation.” That “Maradona was one of the best players in the world” and that they were “discussing nothing.” But in Argentina, Maradona is never nothing. It is, precisely, everything.
