“They put the knife into Medina and Italo."
The big-wave star Pedro “Scooby” Vianna, who is also a
model and, if the allegations of an Instagram influencer are to be
believed, lover of soccer ace Neymar Jr, has struck
out at the World Surf League on Brazilian TV.
The impossibly handsome thirty five year old from Rio De Janerio
lit up on Cazé TV in a fiery rant during the live coverage of the
Pan American Games in Chile and where Peru’s Lucca Mesinas and
Brazil’s Tatiana Weston Webb took shortboard gold.
Scooby was asked about adding wave pools to the world tour, to
which he responded, vociferously, in the negative.
“Not much has changed,” said Scooby. “The guys stole from the
foreigners in the pool. They put the knife into Medina and Italo.
Nothing has changed. Theoretically it was supposed to change but
they decided it wasn’t.”
Scooby then added, “Sorry for the sincerity.”
You’ll remember, of course, at the Surf Ranch event in May when
pro surfing was thrown into chaos
and fans turned on the WSL and its CEO Erik Logan after Ethan
Ewing controversially beat Gabriel Medina and Griffin Colapinto,
Italo Ferreira.
Medina threw fuel on an already
spectacular bonfire and despite winner Ethan Ewing being threatened
with death by Brazilian surf fans, when he posted an open
letter to the WSL complaining of poor judging, the defeat marking
the first time in five events he’d failed to make the final.
“The surfing community, especially in Brazil, is mesmerized with
the poor clarity and inconsistence of judging for many years now,
but lately it has been even more shocking,” wrote Medina.
“It is quite clear that judging is now rewarding very simple
surfing, seamless transitions and have taken critical turns in
critical sections off the criteria. This is very frustrating and is
stagnating the sport.”
Italo Ferreira, the 2019 world champion, and reigning world
number one Filipe Toledo joined the chorus, perhaps missing the
irony that Brazilians have won six of the last nine world
titles.
(In September, Toledo would make it seven out of ten.)
“After a long day, of many thoughts, analyses, news and
arguments, I realized that I am tired, psychologically exhausted.
It’s not easy to spend 10 years swallowing hard,” wrote Toledo.
“I’m a surfer, original and rooted, who grew up among real
surfers, and fairness has always been one of the main points in my
experience. That’s why I feel tired. For the love of sport, I’m
still firm and strong. And now, I feel happy seeing the posts by
Gabriel Medina, Ítalo Ferreira, and many others, who can still
adhere to the idea that what we seek will always be the evolution
of the sport, with justice and transparency. We want nothing but
fair. Nothing beyond what is our right. We need our voice to be
heard and respected, because, after all, we are the protagonists of
it all!”
Italo then went passive-aggressive, as if a teen girl has hacked
his telephone.
“My intuition is not to attack, hurt, take into credit and
judgment, but silence consumes me. The surf that gave me and gives
me everything I live by this if I need to prove it yet. My looks
and my energy and what they carry says it all. On my part, surf, I
give you my all. My devotion My day to day that only me, my team
and my family know. And so we shall continue. In the moment of
sadness, indignation, reverse and look forward, transform, inspire
people.”
Scooby, meanwhile, allegedly became Neymar Jr’s lover at a sex
party, the story extensively covered by BeachGrit’s JP Currie.
“The allegations came via a Brazilian woman
who identifies as an ‘influencer’, a term I find so distasteful I
won’t mention her name. She alleges that she and another woman
joined Neymar Jr and Scooby for a foursome, but that the two men
were far more interested in each other.”
However, it’s not the first time the tabloid press have made
allegations about Neymar Jr’s sexuality, in particular the nature of his
friendship with Gabriel Medina.
