Roberto Alvim
Roberto Alvim | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Special Secretary of Culture | |
| In office 7 November 2019 – 17 January 2020 | |
| President | Jair Bolsonaro |
| Minister | Marcelo Álvaro Antônio |
| Preceded by | Henrique Pires |
| Succeeded by | Regina Duarte |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roberto Rego Pinheiro 1973 (age 50–51) |
Roberto Alvim is a Brazilian theatre director. He was the founder and director of the Club Noir theatre in São Paulo from 2006 to 2019.[1] Since June 18, 2019, he has served as head director of Ceacen, Center of Performing Arts, in the National Foundation of the Arts (Funarte).[1][2] On November 7, 2019[3] he was nominated Special Secretary for Culture under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism,[4] only to be fired on January 17, 2020, after plagiarizing a speech by German Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels in a government-sanctioned video.[5][6]
Controversy
Fernanda Montenegro incident
In September 2019, there was push-back against his verbal attack against the actress Fernanda Montenegro. Roberto Alvim called her "dirty" and "liar" in a Facebook post.[7]
Goebbels' speech
On 16 January 2020, while holding the office of Special Culture Secretary from the Ministry of Tourism, Alvim published a video on the Secretary's official Twitter account in which he paraphrases excerpts from a speech by Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's Reichsminister of Propaganda.[8][9] The fact that excerpts from Wagner's Lohengrin were used as the soundtrack for his video was taken by some commentators as an allusion to Nazism.[10] The video soon after caused public uproar, and was deleted the following day.[11][12] In response, Alvim posted a Facebook update[13] in which he states he "hasn't cited anyone" and that the whole incident was a mere "rhetorical coincidence".[10][14]
The German art of the next decade will be heroic, it will be steely-romantic, it will be factual and completely free of sentimentality, it will be national will great pathos and binding, or it will be nothing.
— Joseph Goebbels[15]
The Brazilian art of the next decade will be heroic and will be national, will be endowed with great capacity for emotional involvement... deeply linked to the urgent aspirations of our people, or else it will be nothing.
— Roberto Alvim[15]
Following the public's reaction, on 17 January 2020, Alvim was fired.[5] Addressing the controversy, president Jair Bolsonaro stated: "I repeat our rejection of totalitarian and genocidal ideologies, as well as any allusion to it".[12][15] Regina Duarte was subsequently invited to be Special Secretary of Culture,[16] succeeding Alvim, but she did not immediately accept the job.[17]
Personal life
Alvim became a born-again Christian during a struggle with cancer.[18]
References
- ^ a b Angeleti, Gabriella (June 20, 2019). "Bolsonaro hires far-right theatre director to lead federal arts oganisation". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
- ^ Niklas, Jan; Maia, Gustavo (June 19, 2019). "Roberto Alvim será o diretor do Centro de Artes Cênicas da Funarte". O Globo. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
- ^ Soares, Jussara (2019-11-07). "Roberto Alvim é nomeado secretário de Cultura por Bolsonaro" [Roberto Alvim nominated secretary of Culture by Bolsonaro]. O Globo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2019-11-22. (subscription required)
- ^ "NOTA À IMPRENSA - Integração Turismo e Cultura - Ministério do Turismo" [NOTE TO THE PRESS - Tourism and Culture Integration - Ministry of Tourism] (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-22.
- ^ a b Cowie, Sam (2020-01-17). "Brazil culture secretary fired after echoing words of Nazi Goebbels". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- ^ Vasco Cotovio; Jack Guy. "Brazil's culture secretary fired after appearing to quote Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels in a video". CNN. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
- ^ Giannini, Alessandro; Aragão, Helena; Barros, Luiza (23 September 2019). "Ofensa de diretor da Funarte a Fernanda Montenegro indigna classe artística" [Funarte director's offense to Fernanda Montenegro outrages artistic class] (in Brazilian Portuguese). O Globo. (subscription required)
- ^ "Secretaria Especial da Cultura on Twitter". Twitter (in Brazilian Portuguese). 16 January 2020. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ "Em vídeo, Alvim copia Goebbels e provoca onda de repúdio nas redes sociais" [In video, Alvim copies Goebbels and causes wave of disapproval on social media]. UOL (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2020-01-17.
- ^ a b "Brazil's culture minister sparks outrage by echoing Goebbels". BBC. 17 January 2020.
- ^ Góes, Bruno; Aragão, Helena; Soares, Jussara (16 January 2020). "Roberto Alvim copia discurso do nazista Joseph Goebbels e causa indignação" [Roberto Alvim copies speech by nazi Joseph Goebbels and causes uproar] (in Brazilian Portuguese). O Globo. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Cotovio, Vasco; Guy, Jack (2020-01-17). "Brazil's culture secretary fired after appearing to quote Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels in a video". CNN. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- ^ Alvim, Roberto (17 January 2020). "UM BREVE ESCLARECIMENTO SOBRE MEU DISCURSO" [A BRIEF CLARIFICATION OF MY SPEECH]. Facebook (in Brazilian Portuguese).
- ^ Teodoro, Plinio (17 January 2020). "Roberto Alvim diz que houve "apenas coincidência" com discurso de nazista: "A frase em si é perfeita"" [Roberto Alvim says there was “only a coincidence” with nazi speech: “The sentence itself is perfect”] (in Brazilian Portuguese).
- ^ a b c "Brazil's culture minister fired after echoing Goebbels". BBC. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- ^ Lôbo, Cristiana (January 20, 2020). "Regina Duarte aceita convite para secretaria de Cultura de Bolsonaro, dizem interlocutores" (in Brazilian Portuguese). G1. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- ^ Rocha, Camilo (January 25, 2020). "A semana de Regina Duarte como quase secretária da Cultura" [The week of Regina Duarte as almost secretary of Culture]. Nexo Jornal (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- ^ Jeantet, Diane; Savarese, Mauricio (January 17, 2020). "Brazil fires top culture official over Nazi-linked comments". Associated Press. Retrieved February 19, 2020.