The content creator Telmo Trenado has been at the centre of a controversy since October 28, due to an Instagram story about a message from Marcos Llorente against Minister Óscar Puente following the Urda train accident (Toledo). The criticism led to a boycott of his chain HYPE, which reports 8,032 one-star reviews in 24 hours, while he claims that his story has been "taken out of context".
What He Posted and Why It Upset People
On October 28, a Renfe AVE collided with a stopped Iryo train between Los Yébenes and Urda. The crash resulted in 69 fatalities. That same morning, Atlético de Madrid footballer Marcos Llorente posted on Instagram a message against Transport Minister Óscar Puente. He reproached him for focusing on Twitter instead of his job, and his tone was very harsh. Days later, Llorente responded to those accusing him of politicising the tragedy with another text: "Respecting the victims means not staying silent".
The influencer Jessica Goicoechea shared Llorente's message in her stories. Trenado responded with his own story, in which he appears making a gesture to the camera regarding that post. In the circulating screenshot, there is no text, just his expression. For those who spread it, it was seen as mockery amidst the tragedy.
That night, at 20:48, X user @nostalgicopablo reminded that Trenado is a partner and co-founder of HYPE and wrote that it would be a shame if, after "mocking a story about the train accident", his venues were flooded with bad reviews. The message surpassed 622,000 views. El Diario de Madrid reported on October 30 that other accounts had shared the profiles of the restaurants to rate them poorly.
The Accusation from Spainball
The verified X account Spainball (@Espball) went further. It accused Trenado of attacking the victims to defend Puente and attributed him with humour about ETA. It also recalled an incident from 2017: the captain of the Air Force Borja Aybar, 34, died on October 12 that year when his Eurofighter crashed near the Los Llanos base (Albacete) after returning from the National Day parade.
Spainball attached a tweet from Trenado's account, @Telmometro, which wrote "happy Hispanic Day haha" about a news article from La Vanguardia regarding a crashed Air Force plane in Albacete. The message also includes a list of brands that have collaborated with the creator, including Simyo, Decathlon, Estrella Galicia, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Prime Video. Other old tweets from his account, featuring dark humour about fires in Chile or diseases, have been circulating on social media these days. Trenado has not responded to these accusations, and there is no record of any of the brands announcing changes in their relationship with him.
Trenado's Response
On October 29, a day later, the creator published a statement in his stories. He denounced "a lynching with insults and threats" against him and, above all, against the HYPE venues, "their businesses, employees, and families". He asserts that he would "never" laugh at a tragedy like that of Urda and that he usually uses his platform to share useful information in such situations.
According to his version, he wanted to criticise how influential people reacted to the catastrophe by politicising it and seeking partisan gain, without knowing yet what had happened. He maintains that the shared text did not mention the victims or their families. He acknowledges the general anger and admits that accountability is necessary, but believes that "it was neither the time nor the manner". He concludes: "Humanity first, then politics".
The HYPE Statement
Juan Beltrán Martínez, CEO and co-founder of The Hype, shared his own message on Instagram on October 30. He speaks of a "coordinated campaign of harassment and discredit" promoted by one person through X. According to his figures, 8,032 one-star reviews arrived in less than 24 hours at the 30 Google listings of their restaurants, plummeting the ratings to 2 and 3 stars. Thanks to the team's work and dealings with Google, he adds, 8,023 have been removed, 99.9%.
Beltrán defines Trenado as a minority partner, although El Español presents him as a co-founder alongside Beltrán himself. He emphasises that more than 200 people work at HYPE who have done nothing wrong and states that they have been building the company from scratch for almost five years. El Español places its founding in 2022 in the Barceló market in Madrid. What concerns him most, he asserts, is the ease with which hundreds of families can be harmed due to an unrelated conflict, and he concludes: "We have failed as a society".
The chain has 32 points of sale, according to El Español, which on October 13 announced its upcoming opening in the Luz del Tajo shopping centre in Toledo. On October 30, El Diario de Madrid noted that the visible ratings in some directories did not allow for confirming a widespread decline in ratings.
This Is Not His First Conflict on Social Media
Trenado (Zumaia, 1995) started in 2012 with a magic channel on YouTube and later transitioned to humour and business. He had already been involved in another notable controversy with Marta Pombo, sister of influencer María Pombo. In March 2023, Marta explained on Instagram that neither she nor her family would attend the Ídolo Awards, the content creator gala organised by Dulceida, because Trenado was nominated. She recounted that he had gained followers by insulting her and her sisters, and said she had dealt with it in therapy. Trenado responded on TikTok that it was decided by a jury and that the Pombos were not attending because they were "a bit prickly". A few days later, they coincided at the premiere of the docuseries Influencers: Surviving the Networks on Prime Video, and he again threw a jab at her in his stories.
You may also like
