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Barcelona's Raphinha calls out Disneyland Paris for ‘racism’ towards his son; here's what went wrong as netizens react
Raphinha accused Disneyland Paris of racial discrimination after a mascot allegedly ignored his son, Gael, while embracing other children.
Raphinha, a forward for Barcelona, has charged Disneyland Paris of racial discrimination after a mascot allegedly neglected his young son while embracing other kids.
He resorted to social media to express his ire when videos from the resort seemed to show the two-year-old being neglected.
Raphinha issues fiery statement
Raphinha posted the video to his Instagram account, showing a mascot embracing a number of kids as his son, Gael, stood off to the side.
Gael then seemed to be requesting an embrace from the costumed members.
In the additional clips, an unnamed adult was seen taking the youngster to the mascot in a desperate attempt to attract their attention, but Gael was ignored one more time.
Expressing his fury over the incident, Raphinha slammed Disney Paris, saying: “Your employees are disgraceful. You shouldn't treat people like this, especially a CHILD. You're supposed to make children happy, not ignore a child. I prefer to say “ignore”, rather than anything else. You're a disgrace.”
He went on to claim that the mascot purposefully disregarded Gael due to the color of his skin.
Stressing that he can appreciate the exhaustion of those who deal with this, he asked, "but why did all the white children get hugs and not my son?" declaring that “I hate you, Disneyland.”
“He just wanted a hello and a hug. Lucky for you, he doesn't get it. That employee is s****y.”
Netizens express anger over incident
Disney is yet to issue any statement on the incident. However, the video caused huge uproar on social media, with several people raising their voice against racism.
“If you don't feel bad watching this.. then you have a problem,” one person wrote.
“It's getting worst everyday, racism won't stop no way. Is just sad,” another said.
“That's pure racism fr me,” a third user chimed in.
After starting Brazil's 3-0 victory over Chile in their World Cup qualification match at the Maracana, Raphinha was thousands of miles away when the tragedy occurred.
Additionally, he is anticipated to play in Wednesday's El Alto match against Bolivia before rejoining Barcelona for their game against Valencia.
Throughout his career, the 28-year-old has been candid about encountering racism.
