Tottenham launch formal complaint to Premier League over Brazilian journalist
The Premier League is one of the biggest sporting brands in the world. As a result, the actions of everyone associated with the competition, from players and managers to the media covering it, are constantly under the microscope.
Maintaining professional boundaries in such a high-stakes environment is essential, and any perceived breach of conduct behind the scenes will inevitably trigger swift scrutiny. The journalist in question, Joao Castelo-Branco, who works for ESPN Brazil, posted a video with a group of Arsenal fans, and he was seen singing about Spurs being "s**t" and how much they "hate" the Lilywhites.
Castelo-Branco is the son of ESPN Brazil's co-founder and regularly shares content displaying his affinity for the Gunners, but Tottenham believe that his latest video crossed the line. MORE SPURS STORIES Spurs have made the point to the Premier League that while they have no plans to exclude ESPN Brazil from their matches, they do not think it is appropriate for the journalist in question to be covering their games or interviewing their head coach or the players.
One Tottenham source described Castelo-Branco posting a video of himself signing those derogatory stances as 'incredible'. The Brazilian journalist took down the video after the matter was raised by Tottenham.
The Premier League are currently in communication with Spurs and with ESPN Brazil in an attempt to resolve the issue. Joao Castelo-Branco apologises for derogatory chants about Spurs The 48-year-old journalist is currently back in Brazil, and he is not facing the possibility of a ban from the Premier League despite the video.
However, The Times reveal that he attended an online meeting with the Premier League to explain himself, and he has apologised to Tottenham via email. Castelo-Branco said: "I wanted to apologise to the club for the video I recorded with Arsenal fans in Brazil singing a derogatory chant about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
Given my role as a correspondent in the UK I feel I made a mistake. The video was posted on the podcast Instagram page and reproduced on my personal page.
I understand it can be offensive to Spurs and Spurs fans and I should have thought more about singing that and the reach it could have. ESPN was notified by the Premier League about Tottenham seeing and disliking the post and we agreed to delete it.
Hopefully we can move on and I will rethink and be more careful with the boundaries of having that persona on the podcast."