Pedro Sanchez has accused Vox leader Santiago Abascal of threatening television presenter David Broncano.
It came after the far-right politician told Broncano that he would need luck at the end of Monday night’s edition of La Revuelta.
‘I will wish you luck, because you’re going to need it,’ Abascal told Broncano as the interview drew to a close on public broadcaster RTVE’s La 1.
Abascal was responding to Broncano, who had told him: ‘I’m not going to wish you luck in the elections.’
Sanchez shared a clip of the exchange on X on Tuesday, saying that threatening someone with a smile degrades democracy.
He said Spain had fought to ensure that far-right extremists could never again threaten comedians and journalists.
Vox denied that Abascal had threatened Broncano. The party said its leader knew what a threat was because he had received them for years.
The appearance drew an average of 4.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the show’s history and around 428,000 more than Sanchez’s own appearance in October.
Sanchez’s interview still holds the programme’s record for audience share, at 33.9% to Abascal’s 33.6%.
Backlash and concern
The interview drew scrutiny over who was in the studio and how Broncano handled the exchange.
HuffPost España reported that Vox had selected the studio audience in place of the programme’s usual crowd, a decision that became a focus of criticism alongside the interview itself.
El Pais journalist Angeles Caballero told La Sexta the appearance had amounted to a lengthy advertisement for Abascal, who had arrived knowing which messages he wanted to get across and delivered them effectively.
La Sexta presenter Antonio Garcia Ferreras defended Broncano, pointing out that a comedian was facing a politician whose combative style can be difficult even for experienced interviewers.
The government’s allies, meanwhile, criticised the public broadcaster for giving the far right a platform ahead of the November 29 general election.
The conservative Partido Popular objected for a different reason, arguing the appearance was intended to drive a wedge between itself and Vox.
