Spanish club Valencia said it has filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming falsehoods in a documentary about Brazil player Vinícius Júnior. Valencia said the documentary mistakenly accused a large group of Valencia fans of making racist chants against the Real Madrid forward in a La Liga match in 2023. The club filed the lawsuit after its public demands for corrections by the documentary’s production company were not fulfilled. The lawsuit is against Netflix and the production company for damaging “Valencia’s honour.” 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, Vinícius’ 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 Vinícius.
The video has the word ‘mono’, Spanish for monkey, in the subtitles. But Valencia claims 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 Vinícius, but later apologized after saying he realised it wasn’t the entire stadium chanting the word monkey. There were fans who did racially abuse Vinícius 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 eighth-month prison sentences.
During their trial, experts showed that the video with the subtitles “monkey” was edited and did not correspond to reality, according to Spanish media. Vinícius, 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.
