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Pele and Neymar tell Vinicius Jr to keep dancing and be themselves after the cop’s racist ‘monkey’ slur…
- A Spanish cop told Vinicius Jr on El Chringuito TV to ‘stop playing the monkey’
- Neymar and Pele have both used social media to support the Real Madrid star
- Neymar told Vinicius: ‘Dribbling, dance and be yourself’ after the racist comment
- Pele said football included ‘dancing’ and ‘joy’ and encouraged Vinicius, 22
- Barcelona boss Xavi and Newcastle star Bruno Guimaraes also supported him
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Neymar and Pele have used social media to support Vinicius Jr after a Spanish football agent made a racist comment during a live televised broadcast on Friday.
Pedro Bravo, the president of the Spanish Agents’ Association, told Vinicius Jr to ‘stop playing the monkey’ after Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Mallorca.
Bravo made the comment during an appearance on the controversial El Chiringuito TV show before later retracting his statement.
A Spanish cop told Vinicius Jr to ‘stop playing the monkey’ live on El Chringuito TV
Pedro Bravo – who is the president of the association of Spanish agents – made the comment
Bravo compared Vinicius Jr’s behavior to that of a monkey after the Brazilian winger performed his goal celebration dance against Mallorca on Sunday.
Vinicius Jr’s goal in the 72nd minute helped the Spanish champions win 4-1 last Sunday
While he was live on El Chringuito TV, Bravo said: “You (Vinicius Jr) have to respect the opponent.
‘If you want to dance, go to the sambadrome in Brazil. In Spain you have to respect your rivals and stop playing the monkey.’
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar Jr was quick to support the youngster’s flamboyant goal celebration.
He took to social media to post an image of himself and Vinicius dancing during his international service with Brazil.
Neymar captioned the caption: ‘Dribbling, dance and be yourself, happy to be who you are! Go for the top, my friend, we’ll dance to your next target.’
Pele also took to Twitter shortly after the incident to support Vinicius. He wrote: ‘Football is joy. It’s a dance. It’s a real party.
“While racism still exists, we won’t let that stop us from smiling. And so we continue to fight racism: fight for our right to be happy.’
Meanwhile, Newcastle star Bruno Guimaraes has called for a Spanish agent to be arrested for his comments.
Neymar and Pele have both used social media to support the Real Madrid star. Neymar told Vinicius: ‘Dribbling, dance and be yourself’ (above) after racist comment
Pele said football included ‘dancing’ and ‘joy’ and encouraged Vinicius to stand up to racism
He wrote on Twitter: ‘This MORON must leave this place under arrest! No excuses. If a guy says this on live TV, just imagine what he’s saying when he’s not. Unthinkable if this man isn’t in jail.’
The Madrid-based agent has since apologized for his comments, alleging that he “misused” the phrase and that the statement was “metaphorical”.
“I want to make it clear that the expression ‘playing the monkey’ that I misused to qualify Vinicius’ goal celebration dance was done metaphorically (doing stupid things). “Since it was not my intention to offend anyone, I offer my sincere apologies. Sorry!’.
Bravo took to Twitter to apologize and insist the phrase was “metaphorical”
This is not the first time Vinicius has been the victim of racism. The Real Madrid attacker said he was racially insulted during a Clásico clash against Barcelona in 2021.
Speaking about the incident, he said: “I think they deserve heavy penalties, so they won’t do it again. I then decided not to say anything because I was focused on the game.’
Vinicius was also subjected to alleged racist chants during Real Madrid’s game against Mallorca. The attacker was targeted by the home side after scoring for Real Madrid.