The Cuban presenter Carlos Otero candidly confessed that he would never work with Carlucho again, with whom he spent years at the now-defunct channel América Tevé in Miami.
The statement emerged in the podcast "Esto no es un Podcast", when the hosts asked Otero if there was anyone he would never collaborate with. His answer was immediate: With Carlucho.
Otero explained that the estrangement did not stem from a public confrontation, but from professional jealousy.
"The relationship of a friendship with a person is similar to that of a marriage. There are disagreements and there are things I want to do and you want to do, and I don't agree with what you want to do, and we will separate and we will get divorced," he expressed.
Carlos explained that, in his opinion, the problem began when Carlucho, who had been in the United States for a long time, wanted to advance further in his profession.
"And that's valid. The fact that you want to improve every day in your field is valid. There's nothing wrong with that. But I believe it was more about professional issues. Professional jealousy and the whole story," he recounted.
They worked together at TN3 for about four or five months, until Carlucho got the seven o'clock slot. From that moment on, their friendship started to decline. "Right now, there is no relationship at all," he emphasized.
Otero mentioned that when Carlucho left Canal 41 in April 2009 to go to Canal Gentevé, he took several colleagues with him, and the project failed. He then asked Carlos for help, who intervened with Omar Romay, the owner of Canal 41, so that he could return. Additionally, Carlos lent him money, which Carlucho paid back within a week.
"Then he returns to Canal 41. In other words, he was in Canada when I arrived in Canada, not knowing what the process would be like to get through. But I was with him when he was going through a lot of hardship. And I've never talked about that because I don’t like to discuss the good things one does for others," he emphasized.
Despite the breakup, Carlos made it clear that he holds no resentment. He added that if Carlucho were to find himself in a difficult situation, he would act discreetly to help him: "If tomorrow he goes through a situation like that and I find out unofficially from one side, I would unofficially do something to help him get out of that hole."
In December 2007, when Carlos Otero stayed with his family in Canada, Carlucho traveled there to assist him, facilitated his contact with Romay, and managed his work contract.
The host arrived in Miami and worked at Canal 41 for 15 years, primarily leading the successful TN3. Carlucho, meanwhile, was the star host of "El Happy Hour" at the same channel for six years, with a total of 17 years at the network before being fired on February 2, 2019.
In August of that same year, Otero publicly acknowledged that he owed a lot to Carlucho: I really owe him a lot, a lot, he said on TN3. However, just a few months later, Carlucho lashed out at him on his show "El Show de Carlucho," calling him "thick-skinned" and stating: The mistake was mine for bringing him.
The podcast episode was also an opportunity to review Otero's extensive career, which began in 1979 with "Para Bailar" on Cuban television and reached its peak with "Sabadazo," the show that, during the Special Period of the 1990s, achieved an audience share of 82% in Cuba.
Otero also stated that he was fired from Canal 41 on May 3, 2022, at 2:00 pm, and that on the same night, at 11:00 pm, he was already broadcasting his own show on YouTube, for which he had prepared in anticipation of that moment.
His philosophy in the face of life's blows can be summed up in three words that title the episode: "Water and garlic. Endure it and deal with it."
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