The interview that never came to be held has ended up becoming one of the major digital events of the pre-election campaign. Jordi Wild has dominated the conversation on X this Wednesday, 11 November after publishing a video in which he explains why Santiago Abascal will ultimately not attend The Wild Project, despite the fact that his participation was scheduled for this same day.
According to the figures shared during its circulation, the post racked up more than 120,000 'likes' and six million views in just two hours. Those figures reflect the immediate impact of his response, although it has not been possible to verify them directly with X’s statistics. The name of Jordi Wild has also led the platform’s trends in Spain.
The episode comes just two days before the start of the election campaign for the 29N and after DEMÓCRATA had this Wednesday previewed the cancellation of the interview. Vox’s decision is related to its conflict with RTVE and El Terrat over the 40 minutes that were left out of the broadcast of Abascal’s conversation with David Broncano on La Revuelta.
Jordi Wild accuses Vox of changing the conditions at the last minute
"I am deeply disappointed with Vox, with Abascal’s team, and with Santiago himself," the content creator said in a video of about 14 minutes, recorded in the studio where he was supposed to interview the candidate.
According to his account, the party had initially accepted the show’s conditions, but later demanded that it be able to record the conversation with its own resources and have the original material.
Wild says that he had contractually committed to publishing the full interview, without cuts or modifications. In return, he required keeping autonomy over the production and publication of the content.
"If he had wanted to come, he would be here", he lamented, after explaining that the cancellation was communicated to him only a few hours before the recording.
The presenter acknowledged that he maintained a good relationship with Vox’s interlocutors and that he received apologies for the decision, but he considers that the suspension is a lack of respect for his work and for the project he had prepared for the general elections.
The conflict over the 40 minutes of 'La Revuelta'
The break occurs after Vox accused RTVE and the production company El Terrat of failing to comply with the agreed conditions for Abascal’s interview with David Broncano, broadcast on Monday, November 9.
The party maintains that 40 minutes of conversation were removed and demands that the full recording be published or delivered. It also denounces that it did not have the opportunity to point out which fragments it considered most relevant for viewers.
As a result of this episode, Vox has announced that Abascal will stop taking part in interviews when the outlet retains exclusive control over the editing and distribution of his responses without granting the party equivalent powers over the material.
In its statement, the party has clarified that it does not attribute any breach to Jordi Wild. It justifies the suspension by the need to protect its candidate’s image during the election period.
The creator, however, believes that the conflict with another program does not justify canceling an interview whose conditions had already been agreed.
The most viral video of the election pre-campaign
Jordi Wild’s reaction has quickly spread beyond the circle of his usual followers. His name has reached first place among the Spanish trends on X, ahead of other current affairs, including the general strike on November 11.
The episode reflects the prominence that major digital creators are gaining in election coverage. With an audience of millions of subscribers, The Wild Project had set out to bring together the main candidates for President of the Government in extensive interviews, without the usual time limits of television formats.
The controversy has also opened a debate about the conditions of political interviews, rights to use the recordings, and the editorial autonomy of those who carry them out.
The interviews with Sánchez, Feijóo, and Colau will be published on Friday
Despite Abascal’s absence, Jordi Wild maintains his intention to publish the election interviews on Friday, November 13, coinciding with the official start of the campaign.
The project included Pedro Sánchez, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Santiago Abascal, and Ada Colau, the four candidates it had invited. After Vox’s cancellation, Wild has decided to continue with the remaining conversations.
The interviews with Sánchez and Colau are already recorded, while the one with Feijóo was pending to be held this Thursday, according to the schedule communicated by the creator.
The format includes extensive conversations and the participation of two independent journalists, off camera, to verify data during the interviews.
The cancellation of Abascal leaves the original project incomplete, but it has generated unexpected repercussions even before the first conversation is published. Two days before the start of the campaign, Jordi Wild has managed to have a frustrated interview occupy a large part of the political debate on social media.