Retired Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay $950,000 in “moral damages” for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton.
The 70-year-old Brazilian had referred to seven-time champion Hamilton as “neguinho,” a racially offensive term which means “little Black guy,” in 2021. In another interview, Piquet used racist and homophobic language.
The court in Brasilia on Friday ordered Piquet to pay 5 million Brazilian reals “in collective moral damages, to be allocated to funds for the promotion of racial equality and against discrimination of the LGBTQIA+ community.”In their complaint, the human rights groups said that Piquet violated the norm of human dignity enshrined in the country’s constitution.
Hamilton had condemned “archaic mindsets,” and the Mercedes driver said he had been “surrounded by these attitudes and targeted whole life.”Piquet, who won three F1 titles in the 1980s, was discussing a crash between Hamilton and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen that took place during the British Grand Prix in 2021.
In his decision, judge Pedro Matos de Arruda said “subtlety is one of the characteristics of contemporary Brazilian racism” and that the word is “not an affectionate nickname.”Piquet had used racist and homophobic language in the other interview when discussing Hamilton missing out on a previous championship.
Piquet’s comments implied if Hamilton hadn’t been gay, “he would have won the championship. … Therefore, being gay would be a negative characteristic,” the judge said in his decision.Piquet had angered some F1 fans for his support of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. He donated about $95,000 to Bolsonaro’s failed re-election bid.
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