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- Spanish sports talk shows have been discussing the appropriateness of his celebrations
- Vinicius issued a video statement on Saturday in which the Brazilian eloquently explained that dancing forms part of his cultural expression
BARCELONA, Spain: Real Madrid forward Vin铆cius J煤nior called out the haters of his goal celebrations as racist and insisted he will keep on dancing.
Spanish sports talk shows have been discussing the appropriateness of his celebrations, and a commentator on television said he should stop 鈥渄oing the monkey.鈥�
Real Madrid criticized the comment on Friday, and Vinicius issued a video statement on Saturday in which the Brazilian eloquently explained that dancing forms part of his cultural expression, and cited other soccer players, both Black and white, who also have danced after scoring.
鈥淩epeat after me, racist: I am not going to stop dancing,鈥� Vin铆cius said.
鈥淚 was victim of xenophobia and racism in a single declaration, but none of this began yesterday,鈥� Vin铆cius said over freeze frames of social media posts using racist language to insult him.
The controversy also comes in the build up to Sunday鈥檚 always hotly contested Spanish capital derby in which Real Madrid visit Atl茅tico Madrid. This week, Atl茅tico captain Koke Resurrecci贸n, when asked what would happen if Vin铆cius danced after scoring, responded 鈥淭here will be trouble.鈥�
Koke appeared to make the comment in jest, but it has been widely commented on. Brazil star Neymar chimed in on social media by tweeting, 鈥淒ance Vini Jr.鈥�
In his video, Vin铆cius listed players, including Atl茅tico鈥檚 Antoine Griezmann, who is white, over images of them dancing to celebrate goals.
鈥淔or weeks my dancing has been criminalized, dances that are not mine, but rather of Ronaldinho, Neymar, Paquet谩, Pogba, Matheus Cunha, Griezmann and Jo茫o F茅lix,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are dances of Brazilian artists, of Latino singers and reggaeton artists, and Black Americans. They are dances to celebrate the cultural diversity of the world. Accept them. Respect them. I won鈥檛 stop.鈥�
The 22-year-old Vin铆cius emerged as one of the Spanish league鈥檚 best players last year, becoming a perfect attack partner for Karim Benzema. He helped Madrid win the Spanish league and the European Cup, including scoring the goal to beat Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League final.
He has scored five times already this season.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said he was sure his player was focused on playing, despite the noise.
鈥淭he player鈥檚 response was very good. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 anything wrong with him,鈥� Ancelotti said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 playing with the joy and quality that he possesses. I don鈥檛 give him any advice because I鈥檓 not his dad or his brother. I鈥檓 his coach.鈥�