TJ-SP suspends inquiry against comedian denounced by Tabata Amaral

Judge Ivo de Almeida, from the 1st Chamber of Criminal Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP), decided, this Friday (21), to suspend a police investigation that investigated alleged discrimination against people with disabilities in a joke made by comedian Bruno Lambert in a stand-up venue.

The investigation began with a complaint made by federal deputy Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP) in February. The criminal representation of the parliamentarian had as its object a video published on the comedian’s social networks in which he narrated a fictitious case in which he would have had a sexual relationship with a woman in a wheelchair.

In the complaint, Tabata said that Lambert had committed capacitism and that the comedian’s lines denoted “latent machismo” for the “explicit and jocular” way in which he described the narrative of the sexual relationship.

This Friday’s preliminary decision meets the request of the comedian’s defense, who pointed out criminal atypicality of the conduct – that is, the narrated case would not fit any device provided for in the Penal Code. “The Patient’s conduct lacks objective elements for the configuration of the criminal type for which he is incriminated (…) From reading the transcript of the joke, it is noted that what the Patient intended to make people laugh through the narrative of a specific situation – an alleged sexual relationship he had with a wheelchair user – and not propagate any form of prejudice”, maintain the lawyers.

With the preliminary decision, the inquiry will be suspended at least until the merits of the Habeas Corpus is judged. “The issue proves to be very controversial, deserving further analysis, in due time and manner, by the learned Judging Panel. Out of caution, I suspend the progress of the police investigation”, said the judge in the decision.

The repercussion of the complaint made the comedian lose his job for almost a decade

On March 9, when the Public Ministry had not even accepted the complaint, the media repercussion of the accusation caused the comedian, who is not famous and does not live exclusively from comedy, to lose the steady job he had held for nine years in an institution banking.

A People’s Gazette, the comedian said he was relieved by the court decision and highlighted the risks of restrictions on humorous activity and freedom of expression that accompany the accusation of Tabata Amaral. “I am aware that this is not a victory for me alone, it is a victory for the entire comedy class. If I get convicted, arrested or anything else because of a joke, it will set precedents, and comedy will slowly die in the country, ”he said. “This fight is not just for me, it’s for the comedy. It is a fight against censorship and against any kind of attack against freedom of expression.”