Pabllo Vittar ‘hoping and praying’ that Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is ousted at next election
The drag pop superstar says she hopes for an end to the "pitiful situation" her home country finds itself in.
By Will Stroude
Words: Will Stroude; Interview: Reuben Ford
Pabllo Vittar has launched a blistering attack on Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, declaring that her home country finds itself in a “pitiful situation” three years on from the far-right politician’s election.
Brazilian drag pop superstar Vittar, 27, reveals in the Attitude Summer issue – out now to download and to order globally – that she’s ‘hoping and praying’ that the country’s anti-LGBTQ leader is ousted in next year’s presidential election, due to take place on 2 October 2022.
Pabllo Vittar for the Attitude Summer issue, out now to download and to order globally (Photography: ErnnaCost)
Bolsonaro, who was elected to office in 2018, has made numerous homophobic and racist comments throughout the course of his political career and has been described as Brazil’s Donald Trump.
During an interview with TIME magazine in 2018, the former military officer stood by a previous statement in which he claimed he would attack two men if he saw them kissing in the street.
In 2015, the politician said that blood transfusion patients should be allowed to reject blood if it came from a gay person and during a 2011 interview with Playboy, he declared he’d be incapable of loving a gay son and would prefer that son to “die in an accident”.
Jair Bolsonaro (Photo: Wiki)
Since being sworn into office in January 2019, Bolsonaro has made repeated attacks on the LGBTQ community, and has come under fire for his Covid-sceptic attitude towards the current global pandemic, with nationwide demonstrations taking place around the country this week protesting the government’s response to the crisis.
Vittar, who in 2018 became the world’s first Grammy-nominated drag queen, blasts Bolsonaro’s record in the latest issue of Attitude, exclaiming: “He hasn’t just affected the LGBTQ+ community; he’s affected the whole country with his misgovernment and now with COVID, things have only worsened.
“Those who already had little, have nothing. What is even more difficult is that much of the LGBTQ+ community finds itself in the situation of not knowing from one day to the next if there will be food on the table, if they’ll have a job or survive.”
Photography: ErnnaCost
The ‘Sua Cara’ singer adds: “I hope and pray that this will be over soon and that when the elections come, we can change the pitiful situation.”
Asked if she worries there is a chance that Bolsonaro will be re-elected, Vittar replies: “No, there is no chance. I’m an extremely positive person and he won’t be re-elected.”
She concludes: “I just want it to be over.”
Meanwhile, Brazilian presidential hopeful Eduardo Leite has made history as the country’s first governor to come out publicly as gay – though the announcement has prompted a divided response given his past backing of Bolsonaro.
Read the full interview in the Attitude Summer issue, out now.
Subscribe in print and get your first three issues for just £1 each, or digitally for just over £1.50 per issue.
