Watch: Presenter berates football fan for homophobia live on air
A news reporter told off a football fan live on air – for using a homophobic slur.
Brazilian ESPN news reporter Gabriela Moreira stopped her report to reprimand a Palmeiras fan live on air for using an anti-gay phrase.
Speaking in front of the Palestra Italia stadium ahead of their game against Sao Paulo, Moreira asked the 25 year old fan what he thought his team’s chances were.
When he answered that they would “beat those fags”, using the word ‘bicha’, Moreira appeared visibly affronted and proceeded to pick the fan up on his use of the term.
She said: “Boy, I don’t know if you will win but – no to homophobia. How old are you? 25? Please, let’s try to modernize your thinking.”
She took the interview back to the topic of football before returning to the studio.
Fellow presenter John Carlos Albuquerque quipped “poor thing, the boy is misguided” – and noted that this sort of thing “still happens a lot in Brazil and around the world.”
Moreira took to Twitter afterwards to affirm her response, writing: “”I acted in a natural way, according to what I believe professionally […] I reacted because I believe that the press can not be a vehicle of any kind of prejudice.”
There were several incidents of homophobic chants at last year’s World Cup in Brazil – with the home nation’s fans chanting the term ‘puto’ – meaning a male prostitute and a common gay slur.
