A Brazilian soccer team’s mascot is being accused of sexually harassing a female sideline reporter during a crucial match on Sunday when the masked man allegedly hugged the journalist so tight she felt his sweat through the costume.
Gisele Kumpel, a reporter for Canal Monumental, was covering the Grêmio-Sport Club Internacional (Inter) match, better known as Gre-Nal, when she claimed Inter’s mascot, Saci, grabbed and forcibly hugged her before making kissing noises while celebrating the team’s game-winning goal.
‘When Inter scored, he stopped next to me and simply hugged me, he hugged me,” Kumpel told Brazilian news outlet GloboEsporte. “Even with the mask on, he pushed my head and made to kiss me. I could hear the sound of the kiss and I felt his sweat.”
She claimed the unwanted hug came after Inter scored the game-winning goal off a penalty kick in the second half of the game between the Port Algere crosstown rivals, who both play in Brazil’s Serie A league.
Video obtained by the outlet captured Kumpel walking behind the goal as Saci stood nearby.
Saci was reportedly celebrating the late goal that clinched the team’s 3-2 victory over Grêmio.
Kumpel claimed she even gestured how she attempted to push the undesired mascot away.
The reporter said she was the lone female journalist working behind the one goal, and the only one the mascot was making strange gestures towards, and even, at one time, bent down and looked at her phone.
After the game ended, Kumpel reported the unwelcomed embrace to the local police station, which is investigating it as a sexual harassment case.
“Gre-Nal unfortunately ended in a (police report) for me. Sexual harassment by the @SCInternacional mascot,” Kumpel posted to X alongside photos from inside the station.
Kumpel slammed the mascot’s actions, saying actions like Saci’s forced hug are what women in sports undergo while working.
“Another day of women wanting to do their job in football and suffering for it with some idiots who are criminals,” Kumpel added. “I’m going to the end so that no other woman goes through this.”
After she left the police station, Kumpel revealed she was doing alright, despite the interaction she had hours earlier.
“Everything is fine. Taking away the fear, trembling, crying and disbelief of the moment, I did what I could do, since eliminating the fact is impossible,” she said in a follow-up post.
Inter has reportedly handed over all field footage from the game to the police to help the case, according to GE.
The unidentified employee who was wearing the Saci costume was suspended from the position pending the outcome of the investigation.
“Until the process is completed, the employee will be separated from the representation of Saci,” the team said in a statement, obtained by the US Sun.
“We trust that all the facts will be duly clarified with the authority police,” the statement said. “Therefore, and pending the prompt resolution of the case, the employee responsible for the mascot and the Club itself will remain at the disposal of the authorities.”
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