Brazilian Carnival: Man who acted as the devil in 2019 did not die “burned”. Photo: composition LR.
The Brazilian Carnival was held from February 15 to 25, 2023 in Rio de Janeiro after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first case of which in the country was reported on February 26, 2020. After the party, at At least since February 28, content began to circulate on Facebook and TikTok that showed a photo of a staging of two people playing the devil and the Christ: the first dragged the other by the wrist.
“What is happening in Brazil? 1. A carnival unfolded in Brazil, exalting Satan and mocking Jesus and his divinity in the most blasphemous way, ”say several publications about this image, without mentioning when that happened. Likewise, the review ensures that the man who played the role of “Satan defeating Jesus in the carnival” died “burned”. However, there is no evidence that this happened.
Publication that offers false information about the 2019 carnival. Photo: capture on Facebook.
The photo is from the Brazilian carnival of 2019
After a reverse image search on Google, we found that the piece was used on the cover of a note from the Brazilian radio station FM Itabaiana, published on March 20, 2019. Said report was taken from the Band media, since it is cited at the end of the text. “Judge denies retraction of Gaviões for Satan’s triumph over Jesus in Carnival”, says the title of the original article, also published on the aforementioned date. Although the note currently does not include any snapshot, before it did contain that image, according to an inquiry on its website.
Image from 2019. Photo: capture on the FM Itabaiana website.
In this image, published by the FM Itabaiana medium, we can see that the same posture of the actors is shown, the clothing and the photographic composition of the one that was exhibited by the viral post. Likewise, the act was exposed on YouTube by the Portuguese account Recordar é Viver on March 3, 2019. At minute 2 and 47 seconds, it can be seen, from another angle, when the person who played the role of the devil drags who acted as Jesus.
But what happened? According to Band, at that celebration, the Gaviões da Fiel samba school presented in his last show a stage act of Satan’s victory over Jesus in São Paulo. That event generated severe criticism from the ecclesiastical community, as reported by the Aleteia news portal on March 6 of that year.
Uol News reported that the World Christian League, a Catholic entity, accused the school of “committing blasphemy and vilifying the image of Jesus” and demanded “compensation of R$ 5 million.” However, on June 29, 2022, the outlet reported that the São Paulo court ruled that the institution did not commit any abuse of freedom of expression “by showing a choreography in which an actor representing Jesus Christ was dragged, pushed and trampled on by another characterized as the devil”. The ruling was resolved in the first and second instance, but the opponent could still appeal.
In 2021, the fact checking AFP Factual also determined that this piece corresponds to the 2019 carnival parade held by the Gaviões da Fiel samba school and attached the Band note with the piece in question. “The front commission apparently presented the victory of the devil over Jesus (Photo: Jales Valquer/Framephoto/Estadão Content),” says its caption in Spanish.
Other viral publications have used another shot of that presentation, since, by doing a Google image search, it is also revealed that said shot, according to a note from the SRZD portal, corresponds to the “2019 parade of Gaviões da Fiel”. In the legend, the outlet indicates that he is the author of the image and that it was photographed by Cláudio L. Costa.
According to a note from SRZD, the image is from the 2019 carnival. Photo: capture on the SRZD website.
There are no reports that the man who played the devil in 2019 died “burned”
Through investigations with keywords in Portuguese in Google (1, 2 and 3), We did not detect any journalistic report or communication that indicated that the actor had died, much less that he died that way.
Consulted by Verificador through the WhatsApp messaging channel, the Brazilian journalist Amanda Marton Ramaciotti, editor of Revista Anfibia Chile, indicated that there is no information in the Brazilian press that addresses the death of that person. He indicated that the most recent news of the case was the judicial decision, which was described above. “For this reason, that story has been raised again,” he said.
He maintained that, in the recent carnival, what received criticism from evangelical and Christian groups was actress Sabrina Sato’s costume and cited the Pleno News media note, released on February 19, 2023. His report says that Sato was questioned for a video in which his presentation appears “as queen of the drums of the Gaviões da Fiel samba school”. “In the recording, Sato makes the sign of the cross (‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’) dressed as the dragon of Saint George,” reported the portal.
“It is very common for more conservative religious groups, such as evangelicals, to criticize Carnival. That happens a lot. Especially in Brazil, where there is an important religious bench in Congress”, commented the communicator.
In the investigation, in turn, we detected that the version of the supposed death arose in 2019, but it was denied. For example, on March 6, 2019, the Brazilian outlet G1 Globo headlined “It is #FALSE that the man who played the devil in the Gaviões da Fiel parade died charred.” He reported that the Gaviões choreographer, Edgar Júnior, stated that the person who played the devil was alive. He also reported that the Fact or Fake team spoke with the actor, who at the time said he did not want to be identified as he was “scared by the threats he has been receiving on social media.”
The fact checking Aos Fatos also dismantled this alleged death in that year. In 2020, the Boatos portal discredited the alleged death due to lack of evidence. He also did it in 2019, through his YouTube channel, when he falsely claimed that he burned to death.
On the other hand, the viral publication offers other statements that are not verified by this means, but here we report what we found in this regard. The post suggests another alleged consequence of the disputed carnival presentation, which we now know dates from 2019. One is that “lightning” struck the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. However, this event was recently announced by the media such as La República, which reported that this event was captured in several shots by the photographer Fernando Braga, who reported his work through his Instagram account on February 10, 2023.
Likewise, the content states that another effect in Brazil is “a deluge” that until then left “dozens of deaths.” To do this, he publishes images to show that fact. The piece of two vehicles destroyed on the landslide near a beach was found in a video by The Guardian, published on February 20, 2022 in Youtube. From second 41 you can see that scene. The sequence bears the logo of the Government of the Brazilian State of São Paulo. The outlet indicated that the images correspond to the “deadly floods and landslides” in São Paulo.
In February 2023, this state has reported intense rains that have caused landslides, floods, among other events. On February 2, it left “at least 28 dead and 2,914 families evicted.”
In the same way, another photo of an aerial shot showing flooded houses and buildings was used. However, that capture appears in articles in the December 21, 2022, such as Correio Braziliense, which reports the effects of storms produced in three states, including Santa Catarina. Its earliest diffusion dates from December 19 of that year and it is shown on Catnat which, according to his Twitter, is “the permanent observatory of natural disasters in France and in the world since 2001”. “Heavy rains and floods in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina: 2 dead,” the report is titled.
Conclusion
The image of the presentation of the devil dragging Christ comes from the carnival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2019. That is, it does not correspond to the Rio de Janeiro celebration of 2023. The actor who played the devil did not die burned, since there is no evidence to support that information. This version originated in 2019 after the choreography of the devil with Jesus, but it was denied that year. Therefore, we classify these publications as false.
