Brazilian football star Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is said to have homophobically insulted his mother’s openly bisexual partner behind his back and even made death threats against him. Brazilian queer activists have now filed charges.

Neymar’s mother, 52-year-old Nadine Gonçalves, had made her relationship with the 30 years younger model Tiago Ramos public in April. The Brazilian yellow press jumped at the connection with relish, because on top of the age difference came: Ramos made no secret of his bisexuality. The country’s tabloid media is currently debating whether the relationship is still current.

Now, audio recordings have reached the Brazilian media: The professional soccer player Neymar (28), twice voted best footballer in South America, is said to have insulted his mother’s partner in private telephone conversations in an anti-gay manner. It has not yet been conclusively clarified whether this is really Neymar’s voice. The first to report on the incident was the sports magazine Mundo Deportivo. Under Brazilian law, discrimination against sexual identities is subject to criminal prosecution.

Was everything still okay then – or is Neymar’s smile just fake?

Associação LGBT+, a well-known queer rights organisation in the country, announced on Instagram after the statements became public that it would file criminal charges of hate speech, criminal homophobia and death threats. In the submitted complaint, which was sent to the public prosecutor’s office, the activists* point out that in the conversation not only discriminatory expressions but even threats of violence and death were made:

“When they talked about the fact that the mother’s boyfriend is bisexual, he (Neymar) and his friends hinted at the possibility of attacking a gay man, including the intention of inserting a broom into the anus of the mother’s boyfriend”

Neymar has so far not commented further on the accusations or on his relationship to his “stepfather”, who is five years younger than him.

Please follow and like us: