News Desk
\nBrasilia
\nJust days before the Copa America kicks off in Brazil, a local model claimed that Paris Saint-Germain star, Neymar, assaulted her in the French capital. The footballer, who is the world\u2019s most expensive player, has vehemently refuted the allegations.
\nThe international payment giant MasterCard has decided that it is going to suspend its marketing campaign with Neymar, currently embroiled in a rape scandal, the Brazilian media report. The football superstar, who is MasterCard\u2019s ambassador, was supposed to promote the company during the upcoming Copa America, set to start on 15 June.
\n\u201cWe have a series of marketing campaigns planned to be linked together during the Copa America but we have made the decision to suspend all of them, including Neymar as our brand ambassador, until the issue is resolved\u201d, the company\u2019s statement reads, according to Spanish outlet AS.com.
\nMasterCard, however, did not delete a promotional video for Copa America, featuring Neymar, from its Twitter account.
\nAdditionally, recent reports by Fox Sports Asia have suggested that the embattled footballer\u2019s major sponsor, Nike, might cancel its contract with Neymar, depending on the rape investigation\u2019s results.
\nThe sportswear apparel maker earlier issued a statement, noting that it is \u201cvery concerned by the recent allegations and will continue to closely monitor the situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\nMeanwhile, Neymar\u2019s other sponsors, such as McDonald\u2019s, Gillette, and Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, have also reportedly distanced themselves from the football star pending the probe\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n
The accusations against Neymar surfaced last week, even though the alleged incident took place on 15 May in a Paris hotel. According to a document obtained by the Associated Press, the PSG star met the woman in question there after exchanging Instagram messages. She later told the police that he arrived at the hotel \u201capparently drunk\u201d.<\/p>\n
The accuser, 26-year-old Brazilian model Najila Trindade Mendes de Souza then spoke out on the network SBT. She admitted that she liked Neymar, but says that the situation changed after their first meeting at a Paris hotel when he became aggressive.<\/p>\n
According to her, \u201che started to hit me\u2026 then he began to hurt me a lot, and I asked him to stop because it hurt\u201d. Trindade also threatened to make public the video of the alleged attack in a bid to destroy Neymar\u2019s career, the Daily Mail reported.<\/p>\n
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\nWhile Neymar\u2019s father has insisted that his son was being blackmailed, the football star took to social media himself with a now-deleted seven-minute video to strongly deny Trindade\u2019s allegations and insist on his innocence. He likewise shared what seemed to be their private exchange on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n
Neymar is now facing a police probe in Brazil for releasing the woman\u2019s intimate photos without her consent following the publication of those images and messages in the video, which were subsequently deleted by both Instagram and Facebook over policy violations.<\/p>\n
Later alleged footage of a man, who is believed to be Neymar, being beaten by a woman, who is said to be Trinidade, surfaced online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk Brasilia Just days before the Copa America kicks off in Brazil, a local model claimed that Paris Saint-Germain star, Neymar, assaulted her in the French capital. The footballer, who is the world\u2019s most expensive player, has vehemently refuted the allegations. The international payment giant MasterCard has decided that it is going to suspend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n