Spurs demand journalist be banned from covering their games after complaining to the Premier League over video
Spurs have requested that a reporter be banned from covering the club after issuing a formal complaint to the Premier League over a controversial video.
The club have been left seething after coming across a video showing a journalist working for ESPN Brazil engaging in anti-Spurs chants with Arsenal supporters.
Joao Castelo-Branco, who is an Arsenal fan, appeared in footage alongside Gunners supporters in Sao Paulo Brazil while watching the 1-0 win over Brazil.
Wearing an Arsenal shirt, he joined in on the chants, including the infamous "We hate Tottenham" song where the club are branded "s***".
The video which sparked a complaint from Spurs to the Premier League
The club became aware and according to The Times, complained to the Premier League after taking issue with the conduct.
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They requested that the correspondent no longer cover the club in any capacity, including interviewing Roberto De Zerbi or any players.
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Talks are ongoing between Spurs and ESPN Brazil in a bid to resolve the matter, with it noted that the club have no intention of placing a blanket ban on the broadcaster.
Instead, their issue is with Castelo-Branco as an individual and how he represented his employers.
Journalist who offended Spurs issued apology for conduct
Castelo-Branco removed the video from his channels and has been extremely apologetic. He apologised to the club in email, as well as attending an online meeting with the Premier League and his employers.
Castelo-Branco apologised for his actions in a comment to The Times, telling the newspaper: “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.”
Castelo-Branco is not a Spurs correspondent specifically but he does cover football in England, with his work seeing him attend a plethora of Premier League games.
The journalist has a particularly large following on social media, with over 168,000 followers on Instagram and 188,000 followers on X.
He is part of ESPN Brazil's Correspondentes Premier podcast, which has 42.1K followers on Instagram.
After three consecutive wins, Spurs' unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday lunchtime when they were beaten 1-0 by Leeds.
Noah Okafor came off the bench to score the winning goal at Elland Road.
Topics: Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League
Josh Lawless
