STF Minister Gilmar Mendes compared presidential hopeful Romeu Zema's court criticisms on Thursday (23) to offensive depictions like dolls portraying him as homosexual. The remark followed Mendes's request to investigate Zema in the fake news probe over a satirical puppet video targeting ministers. Zema hit back on social media.
STF senior Justice Gilmar Mendes made the comparison in an interview with Metrópoles portal on Thursday (23). "If we start making jokes about serious things, about institutions, imagine we start making dolls of Zema as homosexual. Isn't that offensive?", the minister said.
The backdrop is a video Zema posted last month featuring puppets mimicking Gilmar Mendes and Dias Toffoli. In it, Toffoli's puppet asks Gilmar's to suspend a secrecy waiver ordered by the Senate's Organized Crime CPI, in exchange for a stay at the Tayayá resort, linked to Banco Master's Daniel Vorcaro. Mendes forwarded the case to Alexandre de Moraes, the fake news inquiry rapporteur, who sent it to the Attorney General's Office (PGR).
Romeu Zema (Novo), former Minas Gerais governor, replied on X (formerly Twitter): "it only offends when there's a kernel of truth". He reacted with a laughing emoji to an AI-generated image of a doll of himself holding an LGBTQIA+ flag with the phrase "Zema with pride".
Goiás ex-governor Ronaldo Caiado (PSD) defended Zema in Belo Horizonte. "There's no reason to include Romeu Zema in fake news. This exceeds, oversteps STF functions", Caiado stated, emphasizing Zema's freedom of expression.
