Ed Motta sparks controversy by criticizing "simple-minded" Brazilians.
When announcing his European tour, the musician warned that he would not speak Portuguese at his shows – "English is the universal language" – and defined his Brazilian audience abroad as "a more cultured, informed crowd," unlike "the simpler crowd that never followed me in Brazil, the audience of sertanejo, axé, pagode"; this arrogant statement provoked outrage and prejudiced and rude comments from Brazilians against the artist.
247 - Musician Ed Motta has become embroiled in yet another controversy. disclose On Thursday, the 9th, he announced his European tour, in a text in which he warned fans that he does not intend to speak in Portuguese – "English is the universal language," "the whole world speaks English" – and asked that Brazilians attending the show not "shouting 'Manuel' (one of his most famous songs) because there isn't one."
"Truth be told, my real Brazilian audience in Europe is a more cultured, informed crowd; these people never shouted anything. The thing is, a simpler group comes along, people who never followed me in Brazil—a country music, axé, and pagode audience—who come to drink cheap beer wearing tight t-shirts like football players, with those white watches, and start shouting team names," the artist writes on his Facebook page.
The post caused outrage, and since then, he has received more criticism than messages of support. Many messages are prejudiced and rude. Some called him "Ed Bosta" (Ed Shit) or "disgusting." "Ed, go away. Choose a nice country in Europe and go live there. I await information about the prejudice you will suffer... But oh, this will serve to make you a little more humble," wrote one internet user.
"I hope your European tour is a success (it won't be, after all you're not a success anywhere) and that you can stay there for a long time, so we don't have to put up with your arrogance and elitist pomposity disguised as erudition, the result of a mongrel syndrome the size of your ego," another user posted. Ed Motta replied to the comment: "'Success' my ass... You're used to forró and you think the art world is made of success??? How primitive."
Read below the full text by Ed Motta:
As I've been saying here for the last 3 years, I appreciate and am honored to be appreciated by the Brazilian community, but it's important to emphasize that there are no songs in Portuguese in the repertoire, I don't speak Portuguese during the show... I need to communicate in a way that everyone understands, English is the universal language, so for God's sake, don't come with a group of Brazilians yelling "Manuel" because there isn't one, and even less so shouting "speak Portuguese, Ed"... The whole world speaks English, it's impossible that Brazilian immigrants don't know basic English. The record label and promoters' publicity is massive in the European world, and not in the Brazilian community. Truth be told, my real Brazilian audience in Europe is a more cultured, informed group; these people never yell anything. The thing is, a simpler crowd comes along, people who never followed me in Brazil, a country music, axé, pagode audience, who come to drink cheap beer wearing tight t-shirts like football players, with those white watches, and start yelling team names. Don't waste your money, or other people's patience, by disrupting a job that's being done with surgical precision. This isn't a show to ease homesickness for Brazil; this is an international show. How unpleasant to have to give explanations every time, and to have to write this infamous text...