A years-long feud between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US actor Leonardo DiCaprio continued this week, with the president suggesting DiCaprio’s environmental activism was dishonest, given his frequent use of private jets and luxury yachts. luxury.
the Titanic The star sparked the ire of the conservative president initially in 2019, joining an international campaign to shame Bolsonaro over the fires in the Amazon rainforest. The actor – among other celebrities and world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron – shared photos of fires in the Amazon that could not have been taken during Bolsonaro’s tenure and nevertheless blamed his politics for them , predicting that the natural landmark would soon be destroyed.
Bolsonaro is currently seeking re-election, slightly behind former Socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the polls. Lula, a darling of the international left whom former President Barack Obama called “the most popular politician in the world”, was unable to compete with Bolsonaro in the 2018 election because he was found guilty of used taxpayers’ money to buy a luxury beachfront property and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The country’s highest court, the Supreme Federal Court (STF), overturned the conviction last year.
Lula is currently enjoying a flurry of positive press attempts – tainted by his own insistence on defending Russian strongman Vladimir Putin – thanks to his celebration on the cover of Weather review this week. Weather including any criticism of the high rate of fires in the Amazon during Lula’s first term between 2003 and early 2011.
Although DiCaprio has not openly backed Lula, he called for massive voter registration in Brazil this week, urging young Brazilians in particular to participate in what many interpreted as a thinly veiled attack on Bolsonaro.
The president’s latest criticism of DiCaprio was not aimed at the actor, but at Brazilian pop star Anitta, who posted on Twitter that she had meet with DiCaprio and that the actor “knows more about the importance of our Amazon rainforest than the President of Brazil.” The singer also said she and DiCaprio are teaming up to “save the country”, presumably from Bolsonaro.
“I’m glad you spoke to a Hollywood actor, Anitta, it’s every teenager’s dream,” Bolsonaro replied on Tuesday. “I talk to millions of Brazilians every day. They are not famous, but they are the compass [that directs] our decisions, because no one defends and knows more about Brazil than its own people.
Bolsonaro went on to to advise Anitta for “advising Leo to ditch his jets and his yacht”.
“These vehicles emit more CO2 into the atmosphere in one day than dozens of Brazilian families in one month. Before starting to give lessons, you have to set an example,” suggested the president.
Shirtless Leonardo DiCaprio lounges on a yacht with his friend Lukas Haas https://t.co/PuNR4L0uh0 pic.twitter.com/E55bTp9CRe — Page Six (@PageSix) January 6, 2022
DiCaprio’s affinity for large yachts has become a signature of his off-screen persona — and a frequent complaint from those who accuse him of hypocrisy for taking up environmental activism as a hobby. Like vanity lounge observed in January:
This guy [DiCaprio], would you believe, was on a yacht. Of course you believe it. This guy loves yachts. Man just can’t get enough. He is like an oenophile, roaming the lands, picking up the fermented grapes that Dionysus left us here. For example, if there is a rare and elegant wine, he has tried it or wants to try it, but with yachts.
Bolsonaro previously slammed DiCaprio this week in response to the actor posting reminders to Brazilians to register to vote, reminding him that he shared old photos of fires in the Amazon in 2019 in an effort to smear President.
– By the way, the photo you posted to talk about the forest fires in the Amazon in 2019 is from 2003. There are people who want to arrest Brazilian citizens who make this kind of mistake here in our country. But I am against this tyrannical idea. So I forgive you. Kisses from Brazil! pic.twitter.com/pSJBOjVSB7 — Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) April 29, 2022
Leonardo DiCaprio was far from the only celebrity to share old footage during an attack on Bolsonaro that year.
“Our house is on fire. Literally,” Macron, the French president, dramatically proclaimed that year, posting a photo of a fire in a rainforest.
Jaden Smith, Ricky Martin and Camila Cabello all posted the same image of the fires as Macron, taken by photographer Loren McIntyre, who died in 2003. DiCaprio also posted a photo from Peru and blamed Bolsonaro for it.
At the time, Bolsonaro responded not only by condemning celebrities for sharing misleading content, but by accusing DiCaprio in particular of funding non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that he said were deliberately setting fires in the Amazon rainforest to smear his administration.
“An NGO pays 70,000 reais ($16,588.08) for a fabricated photo of fires. And what could be simpler? You play “fire” in the bush, take a photo, film it, send it to an NGO, the NGO exhibits it, contacts Leonardo DiCaprio, and Leonardo DiCaprio donates $500,000 to this NGO,” Bolsonaro said in a wide-ranging conversation on Facebook Live. “Leonardo DiCaprio, you are collaborating in the burning of the Amazon.”
Bolsonaro later directly accused DiCaprio of “giving money to set the Amazon on fire.”
DiCaprio denied any affiliation with the NGOs mentioned by Bolsonaro, despite calling them “worthy of support”.
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