In an video posted by BuzzFeed Brasil, the actor called his 2013 interview with Bolsonaro a ‘chilling confrontation’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The British actor and comedian Stephen Fry has made an emotional plea for Brazilians not to vote for the far-right frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s looming presidential election.

Fry interviewed Bolsonaro, then a congressman, in 2013 for his BBC program Out There, a series about homophobia around the world. The interview gained notoriety in Brazil and has resurfaced during the most polarized election campaign in recent history.

BuzzFeedNewsBR (@BuzzFeedNewsBR) Ator britânico Stephen Fry diz que discurso de Bolsonaro contra negros, mulheres e a comunidade LGBTQ é "aterrorizante" pic.twitter.com/68iTyQNmGG

In a video posted by BuzzFeed Brasil, Fry said Bolsonaro’s discourse against people of color, women and the LGBT community is “genuinely terrifying”.

He called his encounter with the candidate, who is leading in the polls, “one of the most chilling confrontations I’ve ever had with a human being”.

Although Bolsonaro, a former army officer, once said that to have a gay son or daughter was “equal to death”, he told a female lawmaker who called him a rapist that he would not rape her because she did not “deserve to be raped” and has argued that Brazil’s brutal 21-year military dictatorship should have killed more dissidents.

Fry said his intention was not to tell Brazilians how to vote, but asked them to reflect on what it means to be Brazilian.

He encouraged viewers to think about Brazil’s multiculturalism, as seen in the music, food, celebrations and the multiracial makeup. He said this “wonderful mixture” does not reflect a “strange, Trumpian belief that there is one Brazilian race, one ethnicity, one political and religious Brazil”.

“Does [Bolsonaro] want to be Emperor Maximilian?” Fry questioned. “He lives in a fantasy world of militarism, which I find deeply upsetting and frightening.”

The video has nearly 1m combined views between Facebook and Twitter and drew varied reactions on Brazilian social media.

“This guy says he loves Brazil, but where does he live?” questioned one Twitter user. “He doesn’t know that our other options are much worse,” reflecting how many Brazilians turn to Bolsonaro as a supposed alternative to the corrupt political establishment.

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“Wow, a chilling analysis,” wrote one Facebook user. “Not just because he’s English, but he captured exactly the essence of what we are going through here. Fear is indeed the word!”

“One of the most courageous and emotional testimonies I have seen recently,” commented a Facebook user. “I watched the interview he did with Bolsonaro and you can see he’s uncomfortable.”

In their 2013 encounter, Fry challenges Bolsonaro for trying to block a law that criminalizes homophobia and puts an anti-homophobia lesson into public school curriculum. Bolsonaro says in response that the law stimulates homosexuality.

“They want to reach our children in order to turn the children into gay adults to satisfy their sexuality in the future,” he says.

“We’re thinking about having a heterosexual pride day,” Bolsonaro said to Fry. “You won’t be invited.”