Valencia CF has officially filed a lawsuit against Netflix and production company Conspiração Filmes over allegedly inaccurate subtitles in the documentary “Baila, Vini”, claiming the misrepresentation damages its honour and the reputation of its supporters.
The legal move follows public demands for correction after the club asserts the documentary wrongly shows Valencia fans chanting “mono, mono” (Spanish for “monkey, monkey”) directed at Vinícius Jr., instead of the actual chant “tonto, tonto” (“stupid, stupid”) heard in the stadium.
The controversy centers on footage from a match at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium on 21 May 2023, where Vinícius Jr. was subject to abuse from several fans. In the resulting criminal case, three individuals were convicted for making racist insults and gestures, underlining that incidents of racism did occur. However, Valencia argues that the documentary gives the impression of widespread chants from the crowd that were not made.
According to the club’s complaint, the contested segment includes images where spectators appear to shout “tonto, tonto,” but the subtitles state “mono, mono.” Valencia claims these subtitled words are false and misleading, contributing to what they describe as an unfair portrayal of the majority of their fanbase.
Valencia is demanding several remedies:
Financial compensation for the harm to honour and collective image.
A correction of the erroneous subtitles in the documentary.
That any favourable court ruling be included in the documentary, effectively allowing its audience to see the decided truth.
Netflix, for its part, has reportedly declined to amend the subtitles. The streaming platform maintains that the content reflects what was gathered from its sources.
The dispute not only raises legal questions around defamation and misrepresentation but also adds to ongoing debates about how racism and fan behaviour are depicted in media, especially in sports. For Valencia, the case is one of image defense — making clear that isolated instances should not be generalized as systemic, and that accurate subtitling matters greatly when conveying what was actually said in those intense moments.
Africa Digital News, New York
