Xico Sá's article expresses outrage at the hate directed against Chico Buarque on social media.

By Xico Sá, in El País - Chico Buarque wins literary prize in France. The intern barely uploads his honest, hard-earned post to the news portal and, in seconds, the comments section turns into a "hate box"—just like Lupicínio's lyrics. The drool of human rage contaminates at the speed of the internet. A tropical virus without a vaccine. Chico Buarque wins a very important literary prize in France.I repeat and retweet, I congratulate the brilliant artist on his foreign glory. Drooling is dripping from computer and smartphone screens.

Okay, so the namesake isn't the unanimous favorite he was during the festival era, the national icon of Nelson Rodrigues's cheeky phrase, but hold on a minute, my friend, all this hatred for Chico is a symptom that the country has completely lost its way and its sense of delicacy. Brazil needs to love Chico Buarque de Holanda again. In every way. With passion and affection. Including forgiveness for betraying you, forgive me, disappointed reader, but it has to be this way.

Brazil needs to rediscover the passionate love for Chico, not in a sadomasochistic, kicking-and-stomping way, as I'm reading now in the comments on the culture page of "Estadão," the first to report on the French prize awarded to the lyrical young man from the sad tropics. I love him so much, and because I love him so much, I think he deserves more affection; I love him so much, and because I love him so much, I think the country needs to understand the importance of being Francisco, not just because of fresh news coming from Paris or the rest of the world… That whole "Bye bye Brazil" narrative needs to rediscover the allure of Chico, setting aside fleeting internet animosities.

In Tocantins, the leader of Parintintins, those who enjoy vintage rock and the Bee Gees, the people of Ceará who love Cidadão Instigado, Patativa and Godard… The country needs to live the sweet illusion that Chico still represents the unanimous Rodriguean style. All this means recovering the lost delicacy, as in the masterful documentary – for French audiences only – directed by Walter Salles and Nelson Motta (1990).

Cut it short. I mean, I'll cut the fun short myself, remembering that my namesake himself discovered, in 2011, the internet's "hate box." "I didn't know how the game worked, I was absolutely astonished," said the Fluminense fan, laughing. Chico had discovered the pundits who called him an old drunk, a PT supporter, a Rouanet Law bum, etc. It's laughable that these people don't applaud or ask for an encore for the body of work of Francisco Buarque de Holanda. On records, in theater, or in books.

Not that the namesake fell for the unanimity narrative so cunningly preached by Nelson Rodrigues… but, man, the streets laughed heartily, the beach stretched out watching Chico go by in his jog from Leblon to Arpoador… And even the heiresses of the generals of the Dictatorship valued the rebellious man and his blessed poetic verses, whether short or long, redemptive or tragic like Genis or Calabares. “You don’t like me, but your daughter does (…)”.

May Francisco, in the eyes of us all, even in these post-parliamentary coup times, once again be the great Chico. For his body of work, as the wise jury of the French prize determined. May he once again be, as I recall... Interview here in EL PAÍS BRASIL with my friend Antonio Jiménez Barca, the most desired man. I remember that my namesake answered the question in the most relaxed way: "That was a long time ago." It's worth reading about that encounter again.

"The most desired man. Imagine," Francisco scoffed. "That was a long time ago, my foot. Everything is almost yesterday, poet, like we don't even remember, like the memory of that foreigner in Camus's book facing the ordeal of a mother's death. Congratulations on the French prize and for everything you represent for humanity – even for the hateful and contrarian Brazilians."