Mexican senator plays hooky to attend Super Bowl

After skipping his first day of work yesterday, Mexican Senator Ernesto Cordero was caught on camera last night cheering for the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mexicans ripped Cordero apart on social media last night after Fox Sports cameras showed him at the stadium. Although Cordero was one of 251 Mexican lawmakers (of 628 total) who skipped work yesterday, seeing the man who as finance minister claimed that a Mexican family could survive on $400 a month sitting in some of the most expensive seats in the stadium was an insult too far.

https://twitter.com/urizam/status/562131932461285376

Cordero (left) and the brother of Mexico’s former first lady.

“Ernesto Cordero said he went to the Super Bowl like many Mexicans. Sure thing: the lady selling tamales in the corner also went.”

https://twitter.com/luisbecerrilr/status/562279209884594176

“I don’t know if Ernesto Cordero intended sarcasm when he said he just attended the Super Bowl like any Mexican.”

https://twitter.com/CarvalloTV/status/562052423313657856

“How can Ernesto Cordero afford to go to the Super Bowl earning $400 a month, when the tickets are $7,000?”

“Wants to be presidential candidate and loses, president of his party and loses, roots for Seattle and they lose, skips work and gets caught. Ernesto: never endorse me!” — Meme by @ANDRESNAVARROmx

This morning Cordero fired back at his critics and called the widespread reaction a “barbarity” during a radio interview. The senator said he asked the Mexican Congress to withhold his daily pay for missing work, and stressed that he paid his own way to the Super Bowl.

He insisted that he made no mistake by attending the Super Bowl, and that the only error of the night was Seattle head coach Pete Carroll’s last minute call that led to the Patriot’s interception and win.