Go wool and get shorn. The wise Spanish proverb could well sum up what happened to Youtuber Borja Escalona. On Tuesday, the digital content creator was in Vigo shooting a live video through his social networks when he decided to enter A Tapa do Barrel, a place in the Galician capital famous for its empanadillas. “Lucía, the place is wonderful, I will continue to teach,” said Escalona of the employee, whose real name is Rebeca, who then asked her to pay for the drink.
In the published video, Escalona replies to the local worker with an attitude that is as surprised as it is cocky, that he only eats in free places. “Wait, because we’re in trouble; because then I have to charge you for this promotion that we just did, ”replies the Youtuber, whereupon the employee asks him to speak to her boss because she cannot decide on this question. “This will be a bit more expensive for you,” Escalona snaps sarcastically. “You will be billed for the action I just took, which is 2,500 euros,” the creator threatens the employee, after encouraging his followers not to rate the company negatively in order to have the opposite effect.
“You can have a negative review because one day something will go wrong or because not everyone likes the same things. Everyone can do what they want with education,” the site’s owner, Ana Terzado, told the Faro de Vigo newspaper. After seeing that her place had received a flood of reviews on Google on Tuesday night, the owner of A tapa do Barril realized something was wrong: a multitude of reviews from a star had arrived on the same day as Borja Escalona’s visit , who claimed to have found hair in the food or even scouring wire.
Faced with the unpleasant situation, the owners of the premises were forced to issue a statement through their Instagram profile a day after the “very unpleasant incident”, as they themselves described it: “Yesterday at our premises in Porta do Sol we experienced a very unpleasant incident , which has affected our brand image, one of our employees and thus the entire team at A Tapa do Barril,” reads the publication.
The owners of the premises not only give their version of events, but also express their gratitude for all signs of affection and defend the worker who participated in the youtuber. “From here we would like to say thank you for all the expressions of affection we receive and also to draw attention to the usefulness that certain individuals spread through social networks: messages and speeches of hate and violence, of disrespect and the ‘anything goes’ click ‘ the statement continues. “We are clear, whether with networks or without networks, we will do what we can: work, work and work for another 50 years,” the embassy concluded.
After the video and the rain of bad reviews went viral, social media unleashed a wave of support for the worker and owners of A Tapa do Barrel, who have defended their employee’s stance. “The best empanadillas in all of Vigo. Its price is worth it,” reads one of over 21,500 reviews the property already has, with an average score of 4.9 on Google.
But this controversy isn’t the first in which Borja Escalona has starred. For the past week, the YouTuber has boasted on his social media about sneaking into several soccer stadiums in northern Spain. So far, on his YouTube channel – with 34,700 subscribers – he has shown how he entered Balaídos (Celta de Vigo), Riazor (Deportivo de la Coruña), San Mamés (Athletic de Bilbao), Reale Arena (Real Sociedad) without permission . and El Sardinero (Racing Santander).
Adding to this recent controversy, Escalona was arrested in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol in March 2021 for assaulting a woman with a razor. The Youtuber has made a recording for his channel in which he is walking around and threatening passers-by. One of them threw the razor on the ground, breaking it. After insisting that he pay for the object, Escalona ran after the man who threw the device at him and threw it at him. The razor ended up hitting the face of a woman who was walking by and had to be taken to Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón Hospital with a possible broken nose.