Spanish club Valencia on Monday said they filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming falsehoods in a documentary about Brazilian player Vinicius Junior.
Valencia said the documentary mistakenly accused a large group of Valencia fans of making racist chants against the Real Madrid forward in a Spanish La Liga match in 2023.
The club filed the lawsuit after their public demands for corrections by the documentary’s production company were not fulfilled.
Photo: Reuters
The lawsuit is against Netflix and the production company for damaging “Valencia’s honor.” It seeks financial compensation, corrections of the subtitles in the documentary, and the publication of the sentencing, the club said.
Valencia first threatened the lawsuit this year. At the time, Vinicius’ representatives said the player would not get involved, because the demand was against Netflix and the producers of the documentary.
A request for comment sent to Netflix was not immediately answered.
The documentary includes a social media video showing what appeared to be a large crowd at Mestalla Stadium chanting at Vinicius. The video has the word mono, Spanish for “monkey,” in the subtitles, but Valencia claim the fans were actually chanting tonto, which is Spanish for “silly.”
Then-Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was quick to accuse the Valencia fans of racially insulting Vinicius, but later apologized after saying he realized it was not the entire stadium chanting the word “monkey.”
There were fans who did racially abuse Vinicius during that match. Three of them became the first fans to be convicted in racism-related cases in professional soccer in Spain. They were handed eight-month prison sentences.
During their trial, experts showed that the video with the subtitles “monkey” was edited and did not correspond to reality, Spanish media said.
Vinicius, who was repeatedly subjected to racist insults in Spain, was in tears during that 2023 match against Valencia. He confronted a Valencia fan who called him a monkey and made monkey gestures from the stands behind one of the goals.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Liverpool on Tuesday suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers as Andre’s stoppage-time strike sealed a dramatic victory for the English Premier League’s bottom club. Arne Slot’s side fell behind to Rodrigo Gomes’ strike in the closing stages at Molineux. Mohamed Salah hauled Liverpool level with his first goal in 11 top-flight games dating back to November last year. However, Andre’s first goal for Wolves inflicted the latest humbling loss in a chastening season for Liverpool. It was the first time the Premier League’s bottom club had beaten the reigning champions since Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in 2017. Liverpool
Taiwan yesterday defeated the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ farm team 5-1 in their final warm-up game ahead of their World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool C opener. Taiwan’s bullpen used an unconventional rotation, with a different pitcher throwing each inning for the first seven innings. Together, they combined for eight strikeouts while allowing only four hits. The lone run surrendered came in the bottom of the eighth inning after a pitcher from Japan’s independent league took the mound. The pitching strategy was designed to preserve the arms of the Taiwanese ahead of their game against Australia at the Tokyo Dome tomorrow morning. Taiwanese-American Stuart Fairchild
RSS