Amazon under fire over homophobic slurs in broadcast of PSG game

PARIS: A French gay rights group said Wednesday (Nov 8) it had launched legal action against Amazon Prime for offering on streaming replay of a football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille in which homophobic chants were audible.

During the Sep 24 match between the bitter Ligue 1 rivals, thousands of PSG supporters chanted homophobic slogans referring to their opponents.

An AFP reporter covering the game said the chanting in PSG's Parc des Princes stadium went on for around 10 minutes.

Four PSG players, including Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele, were given suspended one-match bans for also chanting insults directed at the Marseille players while celebrating their 4-0 thrashing of their opponents.

A lawyer for the LGBT Families group said it had filed a criminal complaint against Amazon Prime for offering the game on replay, noting that while broadcasters are not responsible for offensive content that may occur during a live match they are liable for content offered on replay.

The complaint says that during the replay, "you can hear several chants from fans coming from the stands, some of which are distinctly homophobic in nature".

Two other LGBT rights groups, Mousse and Stop Homophobie, have said they will also join the complaint against Amazon for public insults and incitement to hatred or violence against people based on their sexual orientation.

Amazon said that the match was no longer available on Prime Video at the time the complaint was announced and that, as a broadcaster, it did not condone the comments or behaviour of certain fans.

"Homophobia has no place in sport or society, and we condemn it, like all forms of discrimination, in the strongest possible terms", an Amazon spokesperson told AFP.

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