Photo Courtesy of ESPN FC/Twitter
On Saturday, Real Madrid Brazilian forward Vinícius Júnior addressed the racism he encountered regarding his goal celebrations.
“You can’t even imagine,” Vinícius stated in the Instagram video. “I was a victim of xenophobia and racism, in one statement. But none of that started yesterday.”
He went into how there have been previous occasions where people criticized his dancing at the endzone using racist remarks. On Sunday, Atletico Madrid fans were captured on camera chanting, “Vinícius, you are a monkey, you are monkey,” after he scored and danced.
In addition to Atletico Madrid fans’ racist chants, a Spanish commentator reportedly made a racist comment while discussing the appropriateness of Vinícius’ dancing after scoring a goal, saying he should stop “doing the monkey.”
In his response, Vinícius addressed his dances were influenced by Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Lucas Paquetá, Antoine Griezmann, João Félix Sequeira, and Matheus Cunha.
“They are dances of Brazilian artists, of Latino singers and reggaeton artists, and Black Americans,” Vinícius said. “They are dances to celebrate the cultural diversity of the world. Accept them. Respect them. I won’t stop.”
“I come from a country where poverty is very high, where people don’t have access to education.. and in many cases, no food on the table,” he continued in the video. “I don’t usually come to publicly rebuttal to criticism. I get attacked, and I don’t speak up. They praise me, and I don’t talk either.”
He ended the video by putting his foot down with the racists, “I repeat it to you racist: I will not stop dancing. Whether at the Sambódromo, at the Bernabéu or wherever.”
Atletico Madrid released a statement condemning their fans’ chants.
“These chants provoke enormous revulsion and indignation, and we will not allow any individual to hide behind our colors to utter insults of a racist or xenophobic nature,” the statement read. “At Atletico de Madrid we have zero tolerance for racism, our commitment to the fight against this social scourge is total, and we will not stop until we manage to eliminate it.”
A member of Atletico Madrid’s team, Koke Resurrección, responded to a question about what would happen if Vinícius danced again.
“There will be trouble,” he stated allegedly jokingly.
At a game, a fan was spotted with a monkey doll for Vinícius, and he later claimed on social media that he was beaten in the street by Real Madrid fans.