Tottenham Hotspur have filed a formal complaint with the Premier League against a UK correspondent for ESPN Brazil after he posted a video of himself leading anti-Spurs chants with Arsenal fans.
João Castelo-Branco, who reports for ESPN Brazil and is the son of the channel’s co-founder José Trajano, often posts about his Arsenal fandom. However, he appears to have crossed a line after a video showed him leading a cheer about how Spurs are “sh*t” and how much Arsenal fans “hate” them. Castelo-Branco has since taken the video down from his social channels.
According to The Times, the Premier League is currently in contact with both the club and ESPN Brazil to resolve the matter.
In their complaint to the league, Tottenham said they have no intention of excluding ESPN Brazil, a Brazilian Premier League rights-holder, from covering the team, but they do not believe it is appropriate for Castelo-Branco to cover their matches and interview their coaches and players.
Castelo-Branco told The Times he is not facing a ban from the league, but he did attend an online meeting with the Premier League and ESPN Brazil on Friday. He says he has also sent an apology and explanation via email to Tottenham Hotspur.
The reporter said the video was meant for a single Tottenham fan he has a football podcast with, and that he was in “character” as an Arsenal fan before he “got carried away” with it.
“I wanted to apologize to the club for the video I recorded with Arsenal fans in Brazil singing a derogatory chant about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club,” he said, via The Times. “Given my role as a correspondent in the UK, I feel I made a mistake.
“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.”
Tottenham’s next home game is against Ipswich Town on November 21.
ESPN Brazil launched in March 1989 as Canal+, becoming the first country-specific version of ESPN outside the United States in 1995.