Filipe Toledo's subtle response

“They want to stop me/It's hard to stop me”… After an altercation that took place in Trestles, which was reported by the tabloid site Beachgrit, Toledo delayed but sent his response in the form of a song by a Brazilian rapper

13 September, 2021

Cover photo: WSL/Dunbar

Filipe Toledo posted a video last Friday showing him surfing well, walking around San Clemente and sliding down Lower Trestles, a video that may go unnoticed but if put into context, it has the flavor of an answer.

The song “Eu Fiz o Jogo Virar” by Brazilian rapper MC Poze do Rodo, allegedly alludes to an altercation he had in the water during the finals spot and which the website Beachgrit dedicated itself to making public with several articles, contains phrases such as: “They want to stop me/It's hard to stop me/ (…) If you mess with the troops, the Glock goes off/ (…) I turned the game around/ I'm on another level/ (…) Nothing was easy/ Everything was very difficult for me

Beachgrit's notes quote a witness as saying:: “Filipe Toledo was turned in by the San Clemente locals, with many witnesses present. Toledo was riding everyone’s waves, angering the locals. A young sponsored surfer who prefers to remain anonymous, relates that he caught the wave of the day back there. He entered the water and suddenly Toledo appeared, tried to avoid him by taking a high line. The young surfer knows that he is going to do this because he grew up in Lowers so he took a high line too, so Toledo tried to pass him and the young surfer grabbed and held Filipe by the wetsuit and held him the whole ride. In the end, a huge fight broke out, mostly verbal. The young man is a hothead, demanding that Toledo paddle in after asking, ‘Who do you think you are? The new local?’. Tension was so high at the peak that Toledo decided to paddle out to the sand and go home.”

Later, Beachgrit reported that due to the publication of the note, Ricardo, Filipe's father, posted racy messages saying that they wanted to distract his son, which he later deleted.

And finally, Filipe did not appear again at Lowers while the other nine competitors in the finals spent day after day training there.

Toledo responded again yesterday by posting some of his waves at Lowers.

Below are Filipe's posts: