The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has offended a journalist this Sunday for a question asked during the first debate between the candidates for the elections on October 2.
Bolsonaro has accused the journalist Vera Magalhaes of “lying” and “taking sides” with a question that he asked another candidate and, with an ironic tone, he has told her that he believes that the journalist feels “some passion” for him.
“You are an embarrassment for Brazilian journalism,” Bolsonaro snapped at the TV Cultura journalist, speaking in a reply, in one of the hottest moments of the debate.
The journalist asked the candidate Ciro Gomes if he believes that “misinformation” about vaccines, which came “even from the President of the Republic”, contributed to causing “deaths that could have been avoided” during the pandemic and to the discredit of the government campaign of vaccination.
After Bolsonaro’s offense, the candidates Simone Tebet and Soraya Thronicke supported the journalist and condemned the head of state’s statements. Thronicke, a candidate for the right-wing Brazil Union, a party allied with Bolsonaro in Parliament, has said: “When men are ‘affectionate’ with other men, but dare to confront women, I am extremely uncomfortable, then I get angry.”
Tebet has accused Bolsonaro of being a “misogynist”, told him that he “distils hatred” and “assaults journalists” and, taking advantage of his cross-questioning time between candidates, asked Bolsonaro: “why so much hatred towards women? ”.
Bolsonaro has responded by saying that his government has made many policies in favor of women and told him “it’s okay to be a victim, we are all the same.”
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