Rio de Janeiro., A Sao Paulo mayoral candidate was hospitalized Monday after one of his five rivals hit him with a metal chair during a televised debate that included references to allegations of sexual misconduct.
Pablo Marçal, a self-improvement influencer turned right-wing politician, addressed the allegations against José Luiz Datena, a former TV host, and challenged Datena to respond: “You’re not even man enough to do it.”
Datena, who has denied the allegations, approached Marçal’s podium, picked up the metal chair and hit him in the side with it as Marçal raised his arms in an attempt to defend himself. The debate moderator immediately cut to commercials, and the debate resumed later Sunday night without Marçal.
Marçal’s team later posted a video of him being rushed to hospital in an ambulance, receiving respiratory assistance. On Monday on social media Marçal explained that he had felt pain when breathing and that a fracture had been found in the lower part of his ribs.
Marçal has parlayed his online popularity and incendiary rhetoric into a nascent political movement, surging in the polls and now nearly tied with current Mayor Ricardo Nunes and leftist lawmaker Guilherme Boulos. That has drawn increased attention to the campaign for mayor of Brazil’s largest city.
Marçal compared the incident to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the stabbing of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the 2018 presidential election.
An investigation into the allegations against Datena never resulted in charges and was dropped when the accuser retracted her statement.
Speaking to reporters after the debate, Datena explained that the episode had been particularly painful for him because he believes that it caused his mother-in-law to suffer a series of heart attacks and die.
“Unfortunately, I lost my mind,” Datena told reporters after the incident. “I could have just walked out of the debate, gone home, that would have been much better. But just as I cry, which is a human reaction, this was a human reaction that I couldn’t contain.”
Marçal’s campaign said the debate should not have gone ahead without him, and that it expects appropriate legal action to be taken against Datena. So far, no charges have been brought against Datena in the wake of the incident.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is backing Boulos. Bolsonaro is backing Nunes, but many of the former president’s supporters are backing Marçal, drawn by his charismatic personality.
OK, but what if Datena’s chair-blow on Pablo Marçal had a soundtrack of chocolate with pepper? pic.twitter.com/BTcElCjp2e
— Alynn 🫧 (@thelissalynn) September 16, 2024
#Sao #Paulo #candidate #hospitalized #rival #attacks #debate
– 2024-09-24 04:20:02
