The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has suspended Sport Lisboa e Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni for six matches for anti-gay conduct directed at Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior during a Champions League match.
The ban includes one match that Prestianni, an Argentinian native, sat out as part of a provisional suspension following the February 17 game against Real Madrid. The ban also includes three matches that were suspended for a two-year period.
Because part of the ban is suspended, Prestianni will only have to sit out two more matches unless he commits another offense, ESPN reports.
Vinícius accused Prestianni of racially abusing him during the match, prompting a referee to pause play for 10 minutes in the second half. Vinícius scored the game’s only goal in the 50th minute — securing a 1-0 win for Real Madrid — but was confronted by Prestianni while celebrating near the corner flag.
Video of the altercation shows Prestianni speaking to Vinícius while covering his mouth with his jersey. The Brazilian then pointed to him and alerted referee Francois Lexter, who made the “arms-crossed” gesture indicating an accusation of racist abuse. Play was then paused while the situation was addressed.
Sources told ESPN’s Bruno Andrade that Prestianni said he used the anti-gay slur “mricón” (Spanish for “f****t”), not “mono,” the word for “monkey.” He later denied using anti-gay language in a social media statement, claiming that Vinícius “misunderstood what he thought he heard.”
Real Madrid player Kylian Mbappé claimed he heard Prestianni call Vinícius a monkey five times, according to The Athletic.
“Vini told us the Prestianni guy called him a ‘monkey,’ but the Benfica player was saying he only called him a ‘m*ricón,'” Real Madrid player Aurelien Tchouameni said.
Article 14 of UEFA’s disciplinary regulations states that any player who “insults the human dignity of a person or group of persons on whatever grounds, including skin colour, race, religion, ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation” will be suspended for at least 10 matches or for a specified period.
UEFA appointed an ethics and disciplinary investigator after the match and concluded that Prestianni’s conduct was anti-gay rather than racist.
The governing body did not respond to an inquiry from The Athletic asking why Prestianni did not receive a 10-match suspension.
UEFA told ESPN it has asked FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, to extend the ban worldwide. If FIFA does so and the suspended portion of the ban is later enforced, Prestianni could miss up to two matches with Argentina during the World Cup in June.
According to The Athletic, Benfica was fined last month for racist abuse by fans during the same match.
Benfica released a statement on the soccer club’s website outlining its “historical and unwavering commitment to defending the values of equality, respect, and inclusion,” and added that it believes Prestianni’s account of the slur he directed toward Vinícius.
On February 28, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) confirmed plans to ban players from covering their mouths when speaking to opponents, as Prestianni did during the Benfica-Real Madrid match.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Little Rock restaurant, with the owner citing concerns from LGBTQ employees over her political positions.
On March 13, Sanders dined at The Croissanterie, arriving unannounced with two guests, staff members, and her State Police Executive Protection Detail.
Her party had been seated for more than an hour and had already paid and tipped when she said the restaurant owner asked a member of her security detail to have them leave.
The Chicago Bulls have waived guard Jaden Ivey for "conduct detrimental to the team" after he posted a lengthy social media video rant expressing anti-gay sentiments, including opposition to Pride Month.
The Bulls acquired the 24-year-old Purdue alum, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, from the Detroit Pistons before last month’s trade deadline. He averaged 15.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists across 151 of 164 games to start his career, but knee issues limited him to 30 games last season and sidelined him for the first 15 games this year.
In an already storied career on stage and screen, Claybourne Elder has earned Grammy, SAG, and Drama Desk Award nominations, sung with symphony orchestras and Broadway divas, and soloed at Carnegie Hall.
Yet, the performer, known for theater roles on and off Broadway, and as the ill-fated John Adams on HBO's The Gilded Age, had never released a solo album, until now, with his sparkling debut If the Stars Were Mine. The question for some might be, if not necessarily what took so long, why now?
"I think that there have been several times I'd thought about doing it," Elder tells me during a relaxed chat over Zoom. "And I was like, 'Oh, no. I mean, who wants to listen to it?' The kind of imposter syndrome gets to you, and you're like, 'Well, I don't want to.'" There's also the challenge, he acknowledges, of working out what you might want to say over an album's worth of songs.
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