MADRID (AP) – Spanish club Valencia said Monday it filed a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming falsehood in a documentary about Brazilian player Vinícius Junior.
Valencia said the documentary miscried a large group of Valencia fans against Real Madrid forwards at a 2023 La Liga match.
The club filed a lawsuit after an official request for amendments by the documentary’s production company was not met.
The lawsuit comes against Netflix and the production company in order to undermine “Valencia’s honor.” The club calls for financial compensation, revision of documentary subtitles and publication of rulings.
Valencia First Threatened the lawsuit this year. At the time, a Vinícius representative said players would not be involved as demand was for Netflix and the documentary’s producers.
Requests for comments sent to Netflix were not immediately answered.
The documentary includes social media videos showing what appears to be a massive crowd of Mestalla Stadium chanting in Vinícius. The video has the word “that” in the subtitle in Spanish for monkeys. However, Valencia claims that the fans were actually chanting “tonto.” This is stupid Spanish.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti at the time accused Valencia fans of racial disgrace, but after realising it wasn’t the entire stadium that later recited the word monkey, he apologised.
There were fans who racially abused Vinícius during that match. Three of them have come First fan convicted In case of racism related in professional Spanish football. They were given eight months in prison.
During their trial, experts showed that, according to Spanish media, the subtitle “Monkey” had been edited and did not respond to reality.
Vinicius, who was repeatedly subjected to racist humiliation in Spain, was in tears during his 2023 match against Valencia. He confronted Valencia fans, called him a monkey and made monkey gestures from the stand behind one of his targets.
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