Kate Scott opened CBS’s Champions League coverage on Wednesday with a message that transcended the games ahead.
The network’s acclaimed host used her platform to address the racist abuse Vinícius Júnior reported during Real Madrid’s match at Benfica the night before, delivering a two-minute statement that called out not just what happened on the pitch but the systems that allow it to keep happening.
“Well, I guess today is a new day in football, but with the same old racist problems,” Scott began. “And whilst we do want to focus on the games ahead today because the game is what we love, yesterday does still linger.”
The incident in question occurred in the 50th minute at Estádio da Luz. Vinícius had just curled a finish into the top corner to give Real Madrid the lead when he celebrated in front of Benfica supporters, earning a yellow card for excessive celebration. Gianluca Prestianni confronted him, and television cameras caught the Benfica player covering his mouth with his shirt as he said something to Vinícius. The Brazilian immediately ran to French referee François Letexier and pointed at Prestianni. Letexier crossed his arms above his head — the signal for FIFA’s anti-racism protocol — and stopped the match for 10 minutes.
“Whether or not you like Viní Junior, that shouldn’t shape your opinion on this incident, and which team you support, it shouldn’t affect which side of the story that you fall on,” Scott said. “This isn’t Real Madrid versus Benfica; it is right versus wrong. Viní Junior and Kylian Mbappé said there was repeated racial abuse. Gianluca Prestiani said they misheard, but he covered his mouth to hide what he said from the cameras, and hopefully we can all agree that if what you’re saying on a football pitch is shameful enough to have to hide it from the public, then you’re wrong.”
This is far from the first time Vinícius has faced racist abuse. Fans in Spain have repeatedly targeted him since joining Real Madrid in 2018, most infamously in May 2023 when Valencia supporters — who were later sentenced to eight months in prison — chanted “monkey” at him, which is what Prestiani allegedly called him five times during Tuesday’s match, according to Mbappé.
Scott made the choice to address that racism directly, and she did it in a way that connected the dots between Tuesday’s incident, the history of Black players facing abuse, the structural problems in football governance, and the broader question of what football stands for.
“Football governance struggles globally with racial diversity at its top executive levels, as do UEFA,” Scott said. “But we do hope that the lack of Black voices in the room will not mean that Black players continue to go unprotected. Investigation and due process will have to occur. But whatever the results of that in this case, we hope that football becomes a better platform, where hatred is met with more than nominal fines and partial stadium closures. Where diversity is truly celebrated, not just tolerated or abused with shirts over mouths.
“The racial diversity on a football pitch in the Champions League is the representation of the global love for this game and the global belonging in this game,” she added. “This is the very spirit of football. And if you don’t agree, then respectfully, you are the one who doesn’t belong.”
UEFA has opened an investigation into the incident through an appointed ethics and disciplinary inspector. Prestianni faces a potential 10-match ban if found guilty under UEFA’s disciplinary code.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.