Public prosecutor Luciana Loureiro Oliveira assessed that Big Brother Brasil participant Felipe Cobra did not commit homophobia when, while participating in the attraction, on January 12, 2007, he said: “(…) I have nothing against it, I have a lot of friends fagot (sic). Respect… Respect in morals. Everyone has their own opinions. Now, you there and I here, brother (…) don’t come into my space (…)”.
The prosecutor's assessment was motivated by a representation presented to the Federal Public Ministry by the non-governmental organization Estruturação – Grupo LGBT de Brasília, in which it was requested that the participant and Rede Globo be penalized for propagating intolerant ideas against homosexuals.
In an official communication to the entity, the prosecutor said that “there will be discriminatory conduct if, together with or based on the conviction or opinion expressed, there are acts of expression of contempt, segregation, aggression, real or psychological violence (…)” and that this This would not be the case with the former BBB's speech.
Milton Santos, president of the institution, regrets the prosecutor's decision. “Of course, no one is forced to like homosexuals, but what we denounced in this case was the propagation via TV of a speech that attempted to justify violence against gays, which does contribute to a culture of homophobia. Or would, for example, saying that you don't like black people and that you would hit anyone who 'invaded your space' contribute to racist ideas? Of course I do,” he says.
Along with representation, the entity campaigned among the homosexual, bisexual, transgender community and supporters of the cause to vote en masse for the participant to leave the program at the time. Cobra left the attraction with 93% of the votes, one of the rejection records in the entire history of BBB in the country.
