Luisa Mell on hate on the internet: ‘they want me to die’ – 06/28/2023 – Tech

“Luisa Mell, run here!”

If you like pets and follow animal profiles on social media, you’ve probably come across the phrase that alludes to the activist in some publication. It’s just that the meme has become recurrent when someone wants to draw attention to an unusual situation involving animals: the tutor who hugs until he almost crushes the dog, the cat who “claims” fresh food, etc.

But the internet that jokes and praises the artist’s work is the same one that potentializes discussions, exposes her personal life and cancels. “You speak and people react. Since I’m controversial, everything gets too big. A lie becomes the truth in five minutes”, says Marina Zatz de Camargo, 44, to Luisa Mell.

Remembered by 17% of those interviewed by Datafolha, Luisa is now the main pet influencer in Brazil. Her name is even more cited in the survey by women (22%). The artist, who began her public career in 2002 at the head of Late Show, on RedeTV!, has spent the last eight years at the head of Instituto Luisa Mell, currently Instituto Caramelo, which takes care of around 400 animals.

Some of the rescues had national repercussions, such as that of 1,707 dogs from a clandestine kennel in Piedade (SP), which even led the Petz chain to stop selling puppies.

Luisa receives the Sheet in her apartment in Jardim Paulista, in São Paulo, where she lives with her son, Enzo, 8, since her divorce from businessman Gilberto Zaborowsky. Léo, her caramel mongrel (whose brother was adopted by Anitta), awaits the tutor under a painting by Nina Pandolfo. Pinguinha, another family dog, is separated after trying to pinch the photographer’s shin a few times.

It is on Instagram, where she has 4.2 million followers, that Luisa publicizes her work in animal and environmental protection. “In season [que era apresentadora] I received a lot of emails, but I didn’t have all that hate. Today, people disagree with what I say and say they want me to die. There’s no way not to be shaken”, she says about the exhibition.

She claims to have learned to use lynching as an ally in her causes. But not every lemon turns into lemonade on social media.

The activist says she regrets the way she exposed the case of a dog that would have been used for religious ritual in 2019. She was accused of racism and religious intolerance. “I am against all forms of animal exploitation, but I could have expressed myself in a more loving way. I did not understand that people invade terreiros, attack [seguidores de religiões de matriz africana], break things. I reflect and see that I was wrong.”

The activist is no longer at the forefront of the operations of the NGO that bore her name, today Instituto Caramelo. The split was announced in a tumultuous manner at the end of April, under the exchange of accusations. The institute accused Luisa of not contributing financially to the entity and of being just a “poster girl”; Luisa countered by saying that she was the victim of a coup to lose control of the NGO.

The agreement between the parties follows under a confidentiality clause.