Neymar accused of plotting armed assault against LGBT+ activist investigating homophobic claims
Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty)
Brazilian footballer Neymar is accused of plotting an armed assault against a journalist investigating his alleged homophobic conduct.
The journalist, an LGBT+ activist called Agripino Magalhães, has filed a lawsuit against the world famous striker in the Court of Justice of São Paulo, Brazilian outlet LO-Bianco reports.
Magalhães claims he was told to “shut up or be killed” after investigating a violent incident between Neymar and his mother’s bisexual boyfriend, Tiago Ramos, back in June.
The journalist says he was offered a bribe of $350,000 to withdraw the complaint but he refused, which prosecutors say led to him being mobbed and robbed. Magalhães said the only reason he “wasn’t killed because the gun didn’t go off”.
He reports a theft of his cell phone, hate messages on social media, and also accuses Neymar’s lawyer of making death threats against him.
Now he is forced to continue changing his address because he fears for his life, he says, adding that he cannot maintain a steady job as he’s terrified of being found.
At the time of the lawsuit, Magalhães said he is “without income, without a roof, having to flee from one corner to the other in order not to be shot”.
According to LO-Bianco‘s reports, he is seeking some $190,000 in compensation.
Neymar is widely considered to be one of the best footballers in the world. When he transferred to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in a move worth €222 million, he became the most expensive player in the world.
Serious concerns were raised last year following what Neymar’s communications team called a “domestic accident” between him and Ramos at his mother’s apartment.
Local reports indicate that Ramos fell down the stairs and smashed into glass and required 12 stitches. During the confrontation, the striker said “homosexuals like Ramos should be killed and impaled alive”, according to Magalhães.
In an alleged audio recording of the confrontation the footballer appears to be heard using the homophobic Portuguese slur “viadinho”.
One of his friends can be heard saying that they should assault Ramos with a broomstick in the anus, to which Neymar agrees, local reports suggest.
Shortly afterwards Magalhães applied to the São Paulo Public Ministry to open an investigation into the footballer’s conduct on behalf of Brazil’s LGBT Association.
In a note sent to the public ministry, the LGBT Association said: “By reporting that the mother’s boyfriend is bisexual, he [Neymar] and his friends hinted at the possibility of assaulting a gay man, including the insertion of a broom into the anus of the mother’s boyfriend.”
At the time the group reportedly requested that Neymar and his friends be detained by police to protect Ramos and stop them from issuing threats to potential witnesses. Their request was denied.
Neymar and his legal representatives have yet to respond to any of the accusations. PinkNews has reached out for comment.
