 "Why Valencia CF have threatened legal action against Netflix documentary on Vinicius Jr?")
Valencia CF have threatened legal action against the makers of the Netflix documentary ‘Vini Jr.’, which is based on the life of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr . The Spanish football club has claimed that the film’s portrayal of the racism incident involving Vinicius Jr is not fully correct. The documentary is made by a Brazilian production company named Conspiracao.
The documentary shows a moment from a 2023 match between Real Madrid and Valencia at the Mestalla stadium, when Vinicius was racially abused by some fans. The incident caused the game to be stopped temporarily. Later, the three Valencia fans were punished with prison sentences and banned from the stadium. This was the first time fans were punished for racist abuse at a football game in Spain.
Valencia deny widespread racist chants in stadium
Valencia said that the film shows the crowd chanting racist words, claiming that it is not true. They argued that most fans were actually chanting a different word than what is shown in the documentary. The film showed a video clip from the stadium with subtitles, where fans are seen chanting “mono” or “monkey” in Spanish. But the club has claimed that they were actually shouting “tonto,” which is “stupid.”
Valencia have insisted that the documentary makes it look like many fans were involved in the incident and that racism is widespread at the stadium and among it’s fanbase. The club has asked the producers to correct the scenes and give a clear and honest version of what really happened.
“As a response to injustice and falsehoods made towards the Valencia CF fanbase, the club have made a demand in writing to the producers of the documentary regarding their portrayal of what occurred at Mestalla, which does not correspond with reality. Truth and respect for our fans must prevail. Valencia CF reserve the right to legal action corresponding to the situation,” Valencia said in a statement.
This is not the first time Valencia have reacted to claims about racism at their stadium. Earlier, they also threatened to take legal action against Rodrygo, who is a teammate of Vinicius at Real Madrid and Brazil. Rodrygo had said during a press conference in 2023 that the entire Mestalla crowd was chanting monkey at Vinicius during their 1-0 defeat in 2023.
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