On December 31, 2022, Brazilian Expat Account Post a photo on Twitter Outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a tall man with dapper looks and a beaked nose, wears a blue polo shirt and eats what appears to be a chicken thigh at a KFC outside Orlando, Florida. On January 2, progressive activist David Adler Reposted Image with caption “I will pay a large commission to paint this picture of disgraced former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro eating Kentucky Fried Chicken in Orlando, Florida on Lula’s inauguration day.” As measured by Twitter, Adler’s post has been viewed 4.3 million times.
For the record, Bolsonaro’s rival — Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — was inaugurated on January 1. Bolsonaro, whatever one might think of his right-wing politics, was not “disgraced” in the traditional sense of resigning amid scandal or criminal prosecution. Still, it’s intrinsically funny to see a world leader—someone associated with enormous power, tailored suits, and diplomatic alpine peaks—sitting at a Formica table, head bowed over his body, lips barely keeping their purchase moist, dangling strings of chicken and loose rusks served up. Purchased for six dollars in Central Florida. it’s a What Alexander Pope calls it bathrooms.
But this is not the first photo of former President Bolsonaro to go viral. far from it. In fact, for a certain left-leaning segment of the American news audience, he’s less relevant to his standing in world affairs than he is because many of the pictures of him are, for some reason, quite funny.
To wit, another viral tweet was posted six days later, attached to a video of Bolsonaro walking in a circle, alone, in a Publix supermarket – presumably also in Florida, where there is a large Brazilian population – without himself having a cart or basket:
(Krohn later wrote that he would like to give credit to the person who shot the video, however Not sure Where did it come from in the first place.)
Going back in time, to the time when Bolsonaro was already holding power and was considered by some, a threat to the future of the planetthere This tweet Which brings together a series of photos of him in hospitals, a place where he often finds himself:
what happens here? To understand, we can begin winding For the launch of Bolsonaro’s career:
[Bolsonaro] He became public knowledge in 1986, when he wrote an article for Vega magazine criticizing low pay for army officers, after which he was arrested and detained for 15 days.
Imprisonment by an oppressive state isn’t a classic comedy situation…but it is sort of Funny when it happens to a strong, ambitious patriot trying to make his first move into the public eye, it is described in the text next to the following profile picture:
Isac Nobrega / PR – Flickr Is the Palacio do Planalto
D’oh.
So, Bolsonaro is a once military man who served more than 20 years as a hard-line conservative in the Brazilian Congress. In 2018, he ran for president as a Trump-like figure who “tells it like it is”. supported to tortureIt has a long history of expression Extravagantly homophobic viewsand made international news even before he ran for the presidency Very rude comment to a lawmaker.
While running for office, it was Bolsonaro Stab in the abdomen during a walk of a man who was identified later Mentally ill. Again, this is not the case funny Funny, but at least it’s a strange way of trying to kill him, and he survived.
Stabbing complications One of the reasons Bolsonaro is in the hospital a lot, but he’s not the only one. He was also hospitalized (or isolated) thereafter Falling into the bathroomAnd Getting COVID in 2020 (He downplayed the risk of the virus and said he had not been vaccinated), a Bladder stonesbeing part of the Brazilian delegation to the United Nations was Overshadowed by COVID in 2021and developed a skin infection called erysipelas on his leg which led to it Painful for him to wear pants. During the first COVID quarantine, Bolsonaro went out to get some air and was videotaped He was bitten by an emu-like bird.
Comedy pros tell me that the contrast between Bolsonaro’s menacing personal goals and their history of being undermined by Mr. Bean’s misfortune might explain why an image of his face can evoke positive emotions. “It is basically Squidward or Wile E. Coyote” ex 30 rock And Modern Family said writer Vali Chandrasekaran. The Daily Show clerk Jason Gilbert Similar opinion: “It’s the same reason Pictures of Trump standing entertaining or funny [Bolsonaro] He presents himself as an infallible alpha male but every picture of him in the hospital looks like a Looney Tunes cartoon.” Gilbert added, “He also constantly gives a dumb thumbs up when he looks like the sickest man on the planet.”
Chandrasekaran put me in touch with a Chilean comedian Fabrizio Cubano, who also compared Bolsonaro to the nominally more brilliant former US president, and added some political context. “He’s Trump and he doesn’t have a ‘win’,” Cubano said. “Even the economy was a mess during his tenure. He was trying to copy all of Trump’s behavior, but without effectiveness or luck.” (Bolsonaro’s approval rating was underwater, sometimes by more than 30 points, during nearly all of his presidency.) These particular events, befallen this particular man, feel justice. Imagine Hitler being hit square in the crotch by a soccer ball traveling at 50 miles per hour. ha ha!
What does the future hold for the smartest booster in the world Allowing police officers to execute suspects in the street? He may go to the hospital, possibly in Florida, where Bolsonaro is said to be planning to stay for one to three months to make sure he is They will not be caught in Brazil. He’s staying there with a lightweight MMA fighter and for some reason has a Minions-themed bedroom. There is a picture of them together that shows Bolsonaro, who once had to be hospitalized because he was Hiccups for 10 days, dons UFC-branded padded fighting gloves and tries to look tough but fails to suppress a half-smile. Don’t laugh at that, please. There will be no more laughing at the former President of Brazil today in this forum, even if something happens to that little fiend who holds the giant anvil above his head. President.