The backlash was swift against Bolsonaro, who has enjoyed considerable support from the country’s right wing, including evangelicals. Several users reported Bolsonaro to Twitter, which prohibits the publication of videos depicting sexual acts. Some users went so far as to demand that the president be impeached for violating a Brazilian law prohibiting officials from “acting in a way that is incompatible with the dignity, honor, and decorum of the office.”<doc-sep>Mr. Bolsonaro’s tweet may have rendered the entire country speechless, but his motives were clear enough. First, he was seeking to demonize Brazil’s L.G.B.T. community, a marginalized population that has occupied his thoughts and rhetoric since he first emerged as a firebrand of the ultraconservative right. (In 2011, he infamously told Playboy magazine he’d rather his son die in an accident than be gay.) Now that he is president, this same community has found itself in his administration’s cross hairs. But second, Mr. Bolsonaro was clearly smarting at the way this year’s celebrations had morphed into protests against his presidency and what it stands for. Tweeting out the video, which was eventually sourced to a block party that took place in São Paulo on Monday, was, it seems, a mystifying form of retaliation. Carnival in Brazil isn’t just about partying, though there’s certainly plenty of that (but it should be noted that even by the raucous standards of Carnival, the explicit scene captured on video, and now immortalized by Brazil’s head of state, was aberrant). It is also a time of immense political and civic expression. This year, an unmistakable theme emerged out of all the disparate Carnival celebrations across hundreds of cities: a forceful repudiation of the far-right ideology that Mr. Bolsonaro and his administration represent. In Rio de Janeiro, the samba school Mangueira won this year’s parade competition by putting on a show that retold Brazilian history from the perspective of its black and indigenous heroes. It also paid tribute to Marielle Franco, a black, gay, progressive councilwoman who was assassinated last year. (While her murder remains unsolved, the police reportedly suspect the involvement of a paramilitary group; recently, links have emerged between the group and the Bolsonaro family, though the latter are not implicated in the murder.) In the historic city of Olinda, revelers threw beer cans on an effigy of the president. Outside Mr. Bolsonaro’s former home in Rio de Janeiro, partygoers dressed up as oranges — a reference to a money-laundering scandal currently plaguing his administration. And a now-ubiquitous chant, which can be most respectfully translated as “Hey! Bolsonaro! Get screwed!” dominated events from the north to the south of Brazil. By all accounts, Mr. Bolsonaro did not have a great Carnival. He was recovering from major abdominal surgery — the latest phase in a long, delicate recovery from a stabbing last September. But he was able to follow the events from his smartphone. And it soon became clear that the anti-Bolsonaro demonstrations had gotten under his skin.<doc-sep>Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was at the heart of a firestorm of criticism Wednesday after tweeting obscene footage of a man urinating on another in what he said was proof of the debauchery of the country's annual carnival. Advertising Read more The new president, frequently criticised for remarks disparaging women, gays and blacks, posted footage of a street party in which a man wearing a jockstrap dances on what appears to be the top of a bustop. At one point, the man urinates on another man to whoops from the crowd. Bolsonaro posted it as a way of denouncing what he sees as the moral degeneracy in the country. "I don't feel comfortable showing it, but we have to expose the truth so the population can be aware and always set their priorities. This is what many street carnival groups have become in Brazil," the president told his 3.4 million Twitter followers. Local media said the video was filmed at a street party, or bloco, in Sao Paulo. The video quickly racked up 2.43 million views after the former army officer posted it, widening divisions in an already polarised country. One of the main hashtags trending on Twitter was #ImpeachmentBolsonaro, while another was #BolsonaroTemRazao, or "Bolsonaro is right." A third top hashtag was #goldenshowerpresident. As denunciations lit up the Internet, the president followed up with another tweet that asked, "What is a golden shower?" The term is used to describe a sexual fetish. O que é golden shower? Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) 6 March 2019 Some critics denounced the president for using an isolated scene to attack the country's wildly popular annual carnival, which this year has been used as a platform by many to protest Bolsonaro's intolerance towards minorities. Others, including some on the right, said posting such footage was below the dignity of his office, and had spread the video to a wider audience, including children. ‘You need medical help urgently’ "Bolsonaro, my six-year-old granddaughter saw this scene on Twitter, just like millions of other kids whose parents follow you on Twitter," said TV journalist Fabio Pannunzio. "I'd like to know how the president of the republic can explain to them what they have just seen," he said, before adding: "You need medical help urgently". Leftist lawmaker Marcelo Freixo answered Bolsonaro’s tweet with a video of a happy young girl dancing on her father’s shoulders, saying, “Life is made of choices. I chose this beautiful image as a symbol of the joy, the feast, the hope, and the country that I want.” A vida é feita de escolhas. Optei por essa imagem linda como símbolo da alegria, da festa, da esperança e do país que quero. São nossas escolhas que nos dão mais ou menos dignidade nos nossos caminhos. pic.twitter.com/xf5WosYdZC Marcelo Freixo (@MarceloFreixo) 6 March 2019 Others jumped in to defend Bolsonaro, arguing that children shouldn't be allowed on Twitter anyway and that the president was just showing how debased carnival celebrations had become. Some users said they were reporting the Brazilian president's post for allegedly violating Twitter's rules, but the post remained on Bolsonaro's timeline Wednesday afternoon. Twitter said in a statement that any violations of its content rules were "subject to appropriate measures" but declined to say whether the post constituted a violation. Stoking culture wars The tweets underscored one of the tactics that helped get Bolsonaro elected: stoking culture wars. He was elected last year in large part due to the support of the country's powerful Evangelical community, promising to crack down on the corruption that has decimated Brazil's political and business elite, and to get tough on a sky-high murder rate. But Bolsonaro’s attack on the carnival might also be a response to the increasingly politicised messages at the annual festivities this year. Some of the themes chosen by samba schools for the 2019 carnival included Bolsonaro's polarising election and the 2018 murder of Rio councilwoman Marielle Franco, a gay and black rights activist whose murder remains unsolved. Party-goers across the country have launched protests against the president, including a chanting crowd that formed outside his Rio home during street celebrations this week. (FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is under fire after tweeting a video showing two men engaged in public sex acts during the country's famous Carnival celebrations. Key points: Mr Bolsonaro said he felt "uncomfortable" sharing the video but had to "expose the truth" Mr Bolsonaro said he felt "uncomfortable" sharing the video but had to "expose the truth" There was a swift backlash, with one man telling the President he needed "medical help" There was a swift backlash, with one man telling the President he needed "medical help" Others said the video simply illustrated how debased Carnival had become Mr Bolsonaro's post included video of a Sao Paulo street party in which a man wearing a jockstrap touches himself sexually, then lowers his head while another man urinates on him. The far-right President said he felt "uncomfortable" showing the video but he had to "expose the truth". "This is what many street parties in Brazil's Carnival have become. Comment and draw your conclusions," he said. Many conservatives in Brazil detest the Carnival celebrations, which are known for their hedonism. Samba schools and street party organisers traditionally mock politicians during the revelry, and Mr Bolsonaro was one of the main targets of their mockery following his recent election. The tweet quickly garnered tens of thousands of comments, many sharply critical of the post. "You need medical help urgently," tweeted journalist Fabio Pannunzio, who said his six-year-old granddaughter and other children saw the post. Others jumped to Mr Bolsonaro's defence, arguing children should not be allowed on Twitter and the President was simply showing how debased Carnival celebrations had become. Oversized caricatures of Mr Bolsonaro and his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, are paraded during Carnival celebrations. ( AP: Diego Herculano Some users said they were reporting the Brazilian President's post for allegedly violating Twitter's rules, but the post remained in Mr Bolsonaro's timeline at the time of writing. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr Bolsonaro's tweet of the obscene video created a social media firestorm. ( Twitter The tweets underscored one of the tactics that helped get Mr Bolsonaro elected: stoking cultural wars. As a congressman for 28 years, Mr Bolsonaro frequently made disparaging comments about the LGBT community, women, indigenous groups and black people. While such comments always draw sharp criticism, they also feed the leader's narrative as being somebody unencumbered by questions of political correctness. Mr Bolsonaro later posted another tweet that seemed to taunt his critics: "What is a golden shower?" he wrote. AP/ABC