The Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Tenerife has announced this Tuesday that it will seek explanations from the island Government (Canarian Coalition and Popular Party) regarding the amendment of its budget (1.2 million euros) intended to finance the Esland awards, hosted by the YouTuber TheGrefg. The well-known influencer was involved in a controversial ascent of Teide last year, which was facilitated by the Tenerife president, Rosa Dávila, who allegedly bypassed the protocols that others on the island are required to follow.
This assertion was made by the president of the Socialist Group in the Tenerife Cabildo, Pedro Martín, who condemned what he described as a “controversial preferential treatment highlighted last year by various organisations, now compounded by the potential allocation of a large sum of public funds to an influencer who chose to establish his tax residency in Andorra, precisely to avoid contributing his earnings to the Spanish public sector; a decision that the Cabildo president appears to reward by granting him hundreds of thousands of euros from public funds.”
The uproar surrounding this YouTuber intensified due to his ascent of Teide on a day when the cable car was non-operational for security reasons (suspended due to adverse weather) yet, the staff had to assist him in ascending alongside the island’s director of Environment. On November 25, he uploaded a video detailing his experience, along with images and commentary that prompted response from 14 environmental groups, who demanded accountability for the supposedly illegal access.
The same content creator admitted in his video that he had “teamed up with a big boss from Tenerife, from the environment, to climb together, which is normally not allowed since you require authorisation. That’s the thing about being courteous with the people of Tenerife; they reciprocate. This man is such a significant figure that the cable car was deactivated, it was closed, and he activated it solely for me to climb and granted me permission. His name is Pedro, and we’re going to give him a shout-out.”
In that same month, November 2023, Rosa Dávila shared images with the influencer, stating “I won’t say much, but there will be signs,” which prompted the socialists to request his appearance in an extraordinary plenary session, during which he denied that this preferential treatment involved any compensation.
The socialists have reminded that in addition to this situation, in July of this year, TheGrefg, according to various media reports, including from the eSports section of the AS newspaper, Cánovas Martínez was contemplating ceasing the celebration of these world awards due to the lack of profitability, as he was only able to recover a fifth or sixth of his investment, which has resulted in losses amounting to one million euros.
The PSOE of Tenerife expressed discontent, stating that “yet again, the president of the Cabildo is using the funds of all Tenerife residents for promotional purposes.”
