 "Raphinha slammed Disneyland Paris over a mascot deliberately ignoring his two-year-old son Gael while greeting other children. Image credit: Instagram/Reuters")
Barcelona star Raphinha has accused Disneyland Paris of racism, claiming his son was ignored by staff during a family trip to the theme park in the French capital. The forward, who is currently away on international duty, shared multiple clips on Instagram stories last week which showed a park mascot ignoring his two-year-old son Gael while warmly greeting other children. The clips, which have since gone viral on social media, highlighted how the mascot continued to ignore Gael even when those accompanying him tried to move him closer.
Raphinha highlights discriminatory behaviour towards his son
“Your employees are disgraceful. You shouldn’t treat people like this, especially a CHILD. You’re supposed to make children happy, not ignore a child. I prefer to say ‘ignore’ rather than anything else. You’re a disgrace,” Raphina wrote in the first story.
“I understand the fatigue of those who work with this, but why were all white children embraced and my son wasn’t,” the Barca wrote in a separate, follow-up story.
“He just wanted a hi and a hug. Lucky for you, he doesn’t understand,” he wrote in another story.
Raphinha had featured in Brazil’s 3-0 victory over Chile at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers while his family members visited Disneyland more than 9,000 kilometres away.
Disneyland Paris is yet to issue an official statement on the racism accusations that they’re facing. The clips, however, have evoked a sharp response on social media, with Raphinha’s Instagram account flooded with supportive messages in the comments section under multiple posts.
“Justice for Gael!” commented one user in a video that the forward posted on Saturday celebrating Brazil’s victory over Chile, which keeps the five-time world champions at the second spot in the CONMEBOL qualifiers for next year’s finals in the US, Mexico and Canada.
This is hardly the first time Raphinha’s spoken out against racism; he had previously expressed solidarity with Brazil teammate and Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior as well as Barca teammate Lamine Yamal, both of whom have been subjected to racist taunts from the crowd in the Spanish top flight.