Vinicius Jr.: Artists and lawyers ask for Malta’s impeachment – 05/24/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

A group formed by artists, activists, lawyers, presenters and intellectuals such as Camila Pitanga, Cléber Machado and Tereza Cristina will send a representation to the Council of Ethics and Parliamentary Decorum of the Senate asking for the impeachment of the mandate of Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES).

The measure comes after the parliamentarian criticized the repercussion of the case of racism against the Brazilian player Vinicius Junior, from Real Madrid, which took place on Sunday (21), in a match of the Spanish Championship.

Malta suggested that TV stations would be “re-victimizing” the athlete and charged associations of the animal cause to “defend the monkeys”, since they would be “exposed” by being mentioned in the curses used against the player.

“The monkey is intelligent, it’s very close to the man. The only difference is the tail. Agile, brave, happy. Everything you can imagine, he has,” said the senator, during a hearing of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the House.

“I, if I were a black player, would come in with a white piglet in my arms and I would even kiss her. And I would say: ‘Look how I have nothing against whites'”, he also said.

In the representation, which is signed by lawyers Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini, Igor Tamasauskas, Antonio Claudio Mariz de Oliveira, Sergio Renault, Marco Aurélio de Carvalho Sebastião Tojal, the group maintains that Magno Malta’s speech is incompatible with parliamentary decorum and abuses prerogatives guaranteed to the members of the National Congress.

The document also highlights insults that associate or equate black people with a monkey, such as those directed at Vini Jr., are part of a repeated and generalized practice of racism in football. More: that it is rooted in almost all levels of Brazilian society.

The impeachment request is endorsed by the journalist and columnist of Folha Juca Khfouri, by the co-founder of Uneafro Douglas Belchior, by the chef Bel Coelho, by the painter Iran Espírito Santo, by the editor Fernanda Diamant, by the writer and columnist of Folha Antonio Prata, by the journalist José Trajano, by the retired judge Kenarik Boujikian and by Tiago Rocha.

“When analyzing the sentence ‘so here’s the thing, where are the defenders of the animal cause who don’t defend the monkey? points out that the one who needs defense is the monkey, and not the one who was the target of racist offenses”, point out the signatories.

“There seems to be a modus operandi in the content of the senator’s statement. At first, there is a relativization of the offense, pointing out that the monkey is the one who would need defense and, at a second moment, there is contempt for the agenda when pointing out that everything takes ‘for skin color'”, they continue.

The representation sent to the Ethics Council also states that parliamentary immunity is not a safe conduct for parliamentarians to behave as they see fit, and that this right and freedom of expression should not be confused “with the prerogative of distilling hate speech, stereotypes or I despise the black population of this country”.

“Racism is an act of the greatest gravity. Joking about pain, discrimination, is not consistent with the parliamentary dignity, with the stature of the Federal Senate. A speech of that size deserves ethical and criminal reprimand, reason for the representation presented”, says the lawyer Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini.

_{with BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH}

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