Minister will receive actresses who accuse Marcius Melhem – 03/29/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

The Minister of Women, Cida Gonçalves, invited the actresses and screenwriters who denounced the former director of Globo’s humor department Marcius Melhem for sexual harassment to a meeting in Brasília, next Tuesday (4). The actor and comedian has always denied that he has harassed his colleagues.

Among the guests who have already confirmed their participation in the meeting are actresses Dani Calabresa, Maria Clara Gueiros, Georgiana Góes, Veronica Debom and Renata Ricci, screenwriters Carolina Warchavsky and Luciana Fregolente and director Cininha de Paula.

The idea, according to people linked to the ministry, is to promote a debate on tackling sexual harassment and present a proposal to the actresses for the construction of a normative framework to combat it in the workplace. The debates that preceded the Maria da Penha Law would be an inspiration for the round of conversations.

The invitation to the meeting was made by the Lula government at a time when the case was once again highlighted in the news. Last week, four women and seven witnesses in the Marcius Melhem case showed, for the first time, their identities and reinforced the accusations of sexual harassment against the former director, in an interview given to journalist Guilherme Amado, from the Metrópoles website.

According to the group, the decision was made because the victims would be going through a discrediting process, which would be led by Melhem.

Dani Calabresa was joined by actresses Renata Ricci, Georgiana Góes, Veronica Debom and Maria Clara Gueiros, screenwriters Luciana Fregolente and Carolina Warchavsky, directors Mauro Farias and Cininha de Paula, in addition to actors Marcelo Adnet, Dani’s ex-husband, and Edward Sterblitch.

In a video, the actresses claim that, during the recordings, Melhem forced French kisses, leaned against colleagues with an erect penis and manipulated his subordinates, as if none of that was more than a joke.

Melhem rejects all accusations, although he says he believes he could have behaved differently. “In perspective, I behaved and made jokes that, as a boss, I wouldn’t do,” he said. “I’ve never touched an erect penis or forced a kiss, in the humor environment there’s a lot of fun.” At one point, the actor came to classify the accusation of sexual harassment as a coup.

Melhem said that he should have received training from Globo to be a boss, as he was not used to the hierarchical position of command. He also stated that it is absolutely normal to mix professional and personal lives in an artistic creation environment. “It was a constructed accusation, and it was poorly constructed,” he said.

Last week, the actor again criticized the report in Piauí magazine, from February last year, which brought reports of sexual harassment, behind the scenes of recordings of TV Globo programs.

“The impression that no one learned anything from Piauí. They believe in an interview assembled, rehearsed and without any proof. The most biased edition I’ve ever seen. Questions to help the 11 and for me a real debate, cutting out my most uncomfortable answers and names”, he wrote

The first complaint against Melhem was made by actress Dani Calabresa, in 2019. But it was kept secret and went public, without much fanfare, as a case of moral harassment.

The following year, lawyer Mayra Cotta, representing 12 people, told the column that Melhem had acted violently against the actresses. And she reported the series of allegations that existed against him, most of them of sexual harassment.

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MY STORY

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