The former volleyball player Ana Paula Henkel, 48, denies having made a homophobic insult to press officer Alexandre Alvim, who filed a police report against her last Sunday (23), which presented cell phone screenshots showing that the former athlete called him a “faggot” via private message.
According to Alvim, this initially happened after he criticized, also via direct message on Instagram, a tweet in which Henkel – today a far-right digital influencer and resident of the United States – contests the legitimacy of the wave of protests against racism in the United States. country presided over by Donald Trump, an idol for the former athlete.
In the tweet, Henkel shared a video in which a black woman criticizes the demonstrations, and wrote in the post: “12% black, 62% of the robberies, 56% of the murders. Do the math".
In the message, according to reports F5, from FSP, Alvim says he mentioned that it is ironic that the former athlete's generation “always lost and was beaten off the court by a black team [from Cuba]” and “that in her position, we had the two greatest central defenders in history, black and volleyball icons: Regla Torres and Magaly Carvajal”.
Alvim referred to an incident during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, in which the Brazilian team lost to the Cuban women's volleyball semi-final – and Henkel claims to have been physically attacked in the changing rooms.
The advisor accused her of making a racist comparison and using distorted numbers.
According to Alvim, she deleted the message he sent and, 18 days later, when he shared on Instagram that he was listening to “Black Parade”, a song that Beyoncé made to show support for demonstrations against racism.
“The queer thinks she’s beautiful. You are very tacky. Holy shit! Hahahahaha look in the mirror. You are very corny, faggot”, wrote the former player.
After Alvim filed the police report, Henkel said in an interview with the conservative radio Jovem Pan that she is, poor thing, “attacked for being conservative”, “going against the current” and “sometimes bringing some truths based on facts and documents, and in statistics.”
In her speech, the former athlete refers to occasions when she says she was called a fascist and racist on social media, because of political positions she publicly takes on social media. “It’s another day in my life,” she said.
The case was registered as an insult at the Electronic Police Station and forwarded to the Atibaia Police Station, a city in the interior of São Paulo where the victim lives.
“I think the LGBTQ+ community has been silent for a long time, the time has come to expose when we are offended, that's why I decided to file the report and also for the sake of protection,” Alvim told F5.
