Brazilian director involved in transphobic rant against Laverne Cox.

[lornagabrielly]

Posted: 10/25/16 at 1:17pm

Hello, everyone. As you can see, I'm a newbie here. I've been a Broadway fan and avid reader of this board for over ten years. The opinion of its members has really helped me planning all my trips to NYC and London, as this board has been my main source for Broadway news, gossip and opinions. For ten years I've felt like I had nothing to add, so I was only lurking around. But some things are so revolting that I felt like posting them over here.

Sorry for beginning my posting history with such a dark subject, but some facts cannot be silenced. Brazilian director Claudio Botelho, self-proclaimed "King of Musicals" and our foremost translator, is involved in a nationwide media scandal after being in the center of a transphobic rant.

He was on Facebook, expressing his "opinion" about the new Rocky Horror Picture Show movie, broadcasted by Fox last Thursday, when he made some nasty remarks about actress Laverne Cox and, more broadly, transgender people. The worst part about this story: he has licensing rights and will open a major production of Rocky Horror Show in Brazil, starting next November.

In case anyone's interested, here is what the print below says (this is a close translation, made by me).

"This kind of stuff (transgender people) is spreading around because parents don't hit their kids anymore. A good spanking is needed. But in case one of the parents decides to hit someone like this LaverME (a word play between Laverne's name and the brazilian word for worm, verme), there will be reactions from a fag rights organization, which will say she has a "woman's soul trapped in a man's body". Huuuuuh? What about me? I'm the soul of a blue-eyed blond man lost in a redneck's body for over 50 years. Am I not entitled to human rights? Like I said: In case their father hits them, they will know this is wrong and will offer their asses to their schoolmates, instead of making up stories about being trans. They will focus on finding men and lose interest for the spotlight. The spotlight is for Judy, Barbra and Rogeria (Brazilian drag artist), the rest are drugged fags from rave parties."

This is not the first time Claudio has been involved in a controversial episode. About 8 months ago, one of his shows had be stopped due to a political comment, given by him (who is also an actor) on stage. The day after, a leaked dressing room audio recording showed a very enraged Claudio, stating that "an actor is a king who cannot be interruped by a random negro".



It has also been everywhere on national media:

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/10/1825688-comentarios-transfobicos-de-claudio-botelho-causam-polemica-na-internet.shtml

http://emais.estadao.com.br/noticias/gente,claudio-botelho-faz-comentarios-transfobicos-em-rede-social,10000084013

http://revistaquem.globo.com/QUEM-News/noticia/2016/10/apos-confusao-com-chico-buarque-claudio-botelho-ataca-transexuais.html

http://vejasp.abril.com.br/materia/claudio-botelho-comentarios-transfobia-facebook

http://www.jb.com.br/cultura/noticias/2016/10/23/diretor-claudio-botelho-volta-a-polemica-com-comentario-transfobico-no-facebook/

http://zh.clicrbs.com.br/rs/entretenimento/noticia/2016/10/apos-polemica-com-chico-buarque-renomado-diretor-de-musicais-ataca-transexuais-falta-surra-7966252.html

Updated On: 10/25/16 at 01:17 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/25/16 at 1:31pm

Sounds like he's in the wrong business.  What a detestable person.  I'm sure there are others who could translate text and lyrics.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 10/25/16 at 6:46pm

i didn't even know a brazilian redneck was a thing!