Note from BBT: With all of the action going on this season of the Big Brother Brasil 21 reality TV series, you don’t even really need to keep up with it to keep up with it. because if you follow social media, you can’t help but know at least a little about this season because it seems that, at least in the first two weeks, 80% of posts in Afro-Brazilian social networks was about this program in one way or another.
I know that for Brazilians who are clinging on the edge of their seats watching everything that goes down on BBB, this is super old news. But for the world of people outside of Brazil, I would assume that this is news. It’s been some time for me in which a series on television kept me coming back to watch it again and again, and, this is also true for Big Brother Brasil. But the shenanigans on this season’s edition deserves its own blog or YouTube channel. I repeat once again, I’m not a fan of reality shows, but so much of what I talk about on this blog is being presented on the screen for all to see on BBB21 to the point that I HAVE to touch on it at least a little.
It’s actually been about three weeks since the end result of this post happened, so let me just go into a few of the highlights. Lucas Penteado was one of the personalities on the program that was not only charismatic, but also a viewer favorite. It’s funny, but it seems that the fireworks that went down on the show have died down a bit since he…Well, let me get to the story. Since my reports on the first controversy involving Lucas and his longing for affection from white women and the villainous role played by the rapper Karol Conká, there’s been a number of things worth discussing at length on the program, so let me discuss Lucas’s role in all of this.
Know What Lucas from BBB 21 Did To Be ‘Excluded’ In the House
By Fernanda Barreiros
Heritage Party
In the early hours of January 30, at the BBB 21 Heritage event, the biggest argument in the history of the reality show happened. Lucas Penteado was in conflict with practically all the participants of the house. Moods were no longer very good, because the whole incident with participant Kerline affected the house.
What could have been a friendly fraternization between the participants, ended up being the biggest argument on the reality show. After a lot of music and excitement, the scene started completely when Lucas appeared in a conversation with participant Camilla de Lucas and started to say that he had a “disagreement” with her, which led him to having a crisis and crying desperately in the bedroom. She said that “the game is affecting him mentally and psychologically”. And he also regretted having judged Kerline, because she now saw Lucas with different eyes.
Black vs. White Division?
During the outburst, Camilla revealed a strategy that Lucas told her about wanting to eliminate the white people in the house. “He said that the blacks here, have to get together and close down up to the first 6 walls to remove 7 white people and we can reach the final”. According to the “sister”, Lucas had a “scary bodily expression” and believed he was drunk. Just for a reminder, the wall (paredão) is the segment of the show when three participants are placed before the viewing audience that then votes for who they would like to see eliminated from the show.
After Camilla de Lucas’s outbreak, the comedian Nego Di, together with the other “brothers” of the house, began to recall episodes starring Lucas. He talked about when the actor suggested forming a group “among the guys”, to add more votes in the house and maintain a division of girls vs. boys, as in the last edition. At that moment, Kerline appears in the room in tears and desperate saying that Lucas had her up against the wall. I don’t want anyone to say my name with his, the “sister” requested.
The next day, everyone mistreated him. However, Karol Conká and Lumena were out of line. Karol was even accused of psychological torture by the public, that requested and even went to protest for the expulsion of the rapper. Rapper and participant Projota explained that the idea of sharing the house was horrible. The singer was praised by host Tiago Leifert in the confessional, but didn’t get the message right. The rapper started to ignore the presence of Lucas, just like most of the house.
Lucas and Kerline on BBB 21
As if all the confusion of the BBB 21 New Year’s Eve party wasn’t enough, Lucas and Kerline were the stars of a new argument. The two didn’t really understand each other and all the stress ended up affecting the house. During the Inheritance party, Lucas again questioned whether Kerline really wanted to be with him. That was when the “sister” felt pressured, cornered and talked about abusive relationships she had already gone through.
Lucas X Camilla de Lucas
The argument between Lucas and the digital influencer happened outside of the headquarters. After venting in the headquarters room, Camilla decided to react to the game. “You are a sucker. You carried out a wonderful piece of theater. A pleasure, (my name is) Camilla de Lucas. Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you say you wanted to know Camilla? Now it will happen. You are a sucker and I mean it. Stupid and an idiot. Guys, crazy what happened today. I’m going to tell everyone that I shouldn’t be ashamed,” she said.
Lucas X Participants of the house
At that time on BBB 21, most of the participants were already against Lucas and in favor of Kerline. Another participant, Arcrebiano, who showed himself close to the actor during the parties, was one of those who questioned the “brother’s” attitude towards the “sister”. “I told you about Kerline, you’re making her cry. I’m your friend, I’m here to protect you, but you’re wrong in many ways. To say that you are a man and to do what you did here is wrong,” he said.
Besides all the arguing at the party, inside the house the atmosphere was still heavy. Widespread confusion continued in the room in a conversation with Pocah, the leader Nego Di saying he would no longer put Kerline on the (elimination) wall. Nearby, psychologist Lumena went to console Lucas, who was crying sitting on the floor of the house.
When trying to extend the conversation further, Lucas decides to talk to the participants of the house. Even though his intention was good, confusion dominated yet again. Participant Viih Tube tried to convince him that it was too late for discussions, while Juliette tries to push the two away.
In the morning, after the party that was marked by widespread confusion, Lucas also fell out with Lumena, who until then would have been the only one to provide him support. He left the kitchen angrily and left the psychologist in tears.
The “brothers” do a prayer circle
The tension was so great that some participants decided to do a prayer circle in the BBB 21 headquarters room. Frightened by all the confusion that was going on on the program, participants Fiuk, Carla Diaz, Thaís, Pocah, Viih Tube, Gilberto, Kerline and Camilla joined in a prayer circle, asking for the negative energies to go away.
Lucas X Karol Conka at BBB 21
The argument between Lucas and rapper Karol Conka had a lot of repercussions. At the beginning of the actor’s disagreement with Kerline, the singer sided with him, but when she saw the girls feeling “afraid” of Lucas, she decided to change her mind and started attacking him with offensive words. In the last few days, the two have starred in the most tense scenes in this edition of Big Brother Brasil. Cursing, cancellations, isolation, all this the home audience is seeing and is reverberating.
In one of these episodes, Conka even expelled Lucas from the table, because she wanted to “eat in peace”. The comments on the internet were due to the aggressiveness with which the singer was treating her colleague.
Two of Lucas’ conversations also deserve to be included in this summary of what he did on BBB. After the first elimination, he questioned Nego Di, who had insulted him behind his back. Nego Di didn’t like this and told Lucas to take it where it belongs. Moreover, he accused that the actor’s revolution is only “defending vagabonds”. After that, Lucas recognized that they are different and didn’t want to talk anymore. Meanwhile, Nego Di continues to attack his former ally, claiming that he would kill him if they fought.
In addition, Lucas also had to hear Lumena. The sister accused him of wanting to use her as a ladder to reach success in the program and that the brother did not present “materiality” to establish himself as an ally. Lumena even compared the situation as if she were Dandara and he was Zumbi dos Palmares, representative figures in the fight against racism. (I will need to discuss this in another post).
BBB 21 Game of Discord
On the live program on Monday, February 1, the first BBB 21 “Game of Discord” took place. The dynamics made the participants point to two cancellers inside the house. Most of the participants chose Lucas Penteado as a canceller, justifying his attitudes as inappropriate in the house. The only participant who debated not being another one to massacre the actor, was the “sister” Sarah.
At a certain point in the dynamic, tension continued between Lucas and Karol. Between a break, the “sister” even told the actor not to look at her, and once again, calling him an “abuser”.
Note from BBT: All of the above would have been enough to remember Lucas’s appearance on BBB’s 21st season. But it still didn’t end there. On Sunday morning, after grabbing my cell phone, I read the headline: “URGENT! LUCAS PENTEADO LEFT BBB!!” ‘Damn! What’s poppin’ now?’, I wondered to myself. As I kept strolling down my IG profile, I saw an endless stream of people posting and commenting on Lucas and the previous episode of BBB. Apparently, something big had jumped off. Indeed. Here’s how it went down.
Lucas Penteado kisses Gilberto on the mouth, is criticized and leaves the program
Courtesy of Pure People
Participants Lucas and Gilberto were talking during the Festa Holi Festival, on “Big Brother Brazil 21”. Suddenly, the two got up from their chairs and exchanged a passionate kiss. The couple’s romance took place in the middle of the dance floor and continued throughout the night. “I hope it doesn’t end here,” asked the lawyer and the actor guaranteed, promising that they will meet again when they leave the program: “No.”
It was the first gay kiss in the history of BBB.
Soon after, Lucas also warned Gilberto: “You’ll see outside that this is no joke.
Lucas says he wouldn’t get with another participant, Arcrebiano, but affirmed: ‘I’m bi’
Speaking to another participant about the kiss, Arcrebiano, Lucas said: “I’ll tell you something! I wouldn’t get you. And I am bisexual! Haven’t you understood that yet? To each is own!”
Lucas was then criticized from some participants of the house. “Lucas using Gil. He’s a little talker,” said Lumena.
Having his sexuality questioned by other contestants, including those who were actually LGBTQ+ people, he acknowledged that he was nervous about the whole thing because he had never publicly declared himself bisexual.
Penteado wasn’t happy about people questioning the veracity of the kiss nor his claim of being bisexual. “Don’t defend me. Because whoever doesn’t believe me, I don’t give a damn. I’m a bi with a heterosexual face,” the actor explained.
Lucas Penteado leaves ‘BBB 21’ after party controversy
Lucas Penteado got upset with the controversy involving his kiss with Gilberto. The artist then packed his bags and cried over the public pressure. “You guys are taking me out. I’m leaving, I can’t take it anymore,” fired the actor. Two participants, Camilla de Lucas and Karol Conká, tried to stop him, however he decided to leave the house.
Besides Lumena, Karol Conká, who had already been criticized of her attitudes towards Lucas, and Pocah led the attacks on him, insinuating that he had kissed Gilberto as a strategy for the show. “You’re not unique and special. There’s no point in agencying an agenda in here, there are other people just like you. You’re acting as an agent for a collective agenda, a fight, in favor of a thing that’s yours, (as an) individual,” Lumena said.
During the attacks, Lucas answered: “Do you know how to live out there? I don’t. I had never assumed that, bro. I was humble enough to ask… So, I don’t suffer this humiliation. I don’t know how to be another person and I won’t live with other people who don’t accept me….I am bisexual. I am a person who loves who he loves,” he said earlier.
The criticism was the final blow to Lucas, who in recent days had already been suffering a series of humiliations and racist attacks, psychological torture and religious intolerance. The artist then packed his bags and cried over the public pressure. “You guys are taking me out. I’m leaving, I can’t take it anymore,” fired the actor. Two participants, Camilla de Lucas and Karol Conká, tried to stop him, however he decided to leave the house.
Note from BBT: Just in analyzing this short period on the program, I’ve seen a black male lamenting that white girls didn’t give him any attention while at the same time coming up with the idea of unifying the program’s blacks in order to eliminate the white participants from the show. Yet another example of how black Brazilians are developing ideas of the necessity of a level of unity but, as I’ve argued before, they can’t seem to kick the obsession with whiteness when seeking love. Unity among black folks must come on all fronts. Without unity among black men, unity among black women and unity between black men and women, on ALL LEVELS, there is no true unity or overcoming of systematic oppresion. And if BBB21 was any sort of example, there’s a LONG ways to attaining any sort of unity among black Brazilians.
Then there’s the all of the ugliness of Karol Conká’s behavior, which I’ve already detailed. I found it troubling that while Conká was hurling such venom toward Lucas, a young black male, she was all up in the face of one of the white males, hugging, planting kisses and showing affection. Then when you consider the hater-ade Lucas’ got from another black woman on the program, Lumena, who supposed to be a psychologist, you have to wonder if some of the accusations of black Brazilian men may be on point when they say that black Brazilian women, specifically feminists, have no problem throwing black men under the bus at the service of white supremacy. Not my words, but those of many Afro-Brazilian males. Some of these same males also point out a certain proclivity of black feminists to enter relationships with white men. Not gonna go there here…
Comedian Nego Di’s comments saying that Lucas was creating a revolution of “vagabonds” shows us that not all black folks think alike. Lucas’s student movement in 2015 was instrumental in forcing the São Paulo state government’s plans backpedal on plans to further dissect an already fragile public education system (see note one), but in Nego’s eyes, such protesting students are simply vagabonds. Makes me wonder who he voted for in the last presidential election.
With Lucas’s exit came an outpouring of support for the actor/poet/activist. People genuinely felt for the psychological abuse he endured while under the BBB roof. Soon, Lucas would appear on the Globo morning talk show Encontro com Fátima Bernardes discussing his reasons for leaving and how he was feeling at various moments. The love for Lucas was shown by fans as videos showed him arriving home to the loving arms of his family and friends. Soon after, a fundraising campaign was initiated to raise, get this, 1.5 million reais for the actor. Lucas had stated that he wanted to buy his mother a home if he could win the prize on BBB, as such, supporters set the fundraising goal at exactly that amount.
Must be nice.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel for all of the hate in nearly every direction that Lucas was catching, but there are kids I pass by in the streets everyday in São Paulo juggling tennis balls, trying to sell snacks, treats, Halls cough drops or whatever to get some money to eat. With the right moves and strategy, I can see Lucas Penteado going on to bigger things. 99.99999% of the kids will never have the opportunity to raise that kind of money, but because Lucas was on the most popular house in Brazil for less than two weeks, people connect with him on a sufficient level to want to raise seven figures for him. All can say is, if you didn’t already know, there is no end to celebrity worship.
Notes
1. Penteado has always been part of militant groups and student movements. In 2015, when the occupation movement in São Paulo schools began, the actor led the students of his educational institution.The occupation movement was a measure taken by students of public schools in São Paulo to protest against the school reorganization project of former governor Geraldo Alckmin. The goal was to separate the schools so that each unit would offer classes in only one of the education cycles (elementary school I, elementary school II or high school), which would make the study opportunity unviable for some students due to the distance of the schools.
In addition, more than 90 educational institutions would be closed, forcing schools to fill their capacity to house all the students. There were 40 days of protests inside and outside the schools. Students began to occupy the institutions, closing the gates of the schools and staying inside.
Lucas Penteado was in his first year at the time and studied at the Caetano de Campos State School. The young man was president of his institution’s student union and went to a conference in the nation’s capital city, Brasília. When he heard what had happened, he returned to São Paulo and organized, together with other members of the student body, the occupation of his school.
The students’ movement was organized. At the time, several news reports, most of them false, talked about the disorganization of the students and about vandalism in the schools. The reality, however, was quite different, as the institutions were returned in a preserved manner.
After 40 days of protest, Governor Geraldo Alckmin suspended the São Paulo school reorganization project.
Source: Pajaris, Paraná Portal, Pure People, Fala Universidades,
From what I’ve read in this article, many famous Black Brazilians are NOT on code with each other and don’t appear to view each other as equals in that regard. I hope Lucas gets the mental helps he needs.
Sooo…did Lucas kiss another Black man? Or is he a house negro like the woman Karol? Cuz if he was kissing the enemy, he’s as much trash as she.
And Nego Di comment means he’s a problem too.