Roberto Alvim is a Brazilian

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. He was the founder and director of the Club Noir theatre in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

from 2006 to 2019. Since June 18, 2019, he has served as head director of Ceacen, Center of Performing Arts, in the National Foundation of the Arts (). On November 7, 2019 he was nominated Special Secretary for Culture under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, only to be fired on January 17, 2020, after plagiarizing a speech by German

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

politician

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

in a government-sanctioned video.

Controversy

Fernanda Montenegro incident

In September 2019, there was push-back against his verbal attack against the actress

Fernanda Montenegro Arlette Pinheiro Esteves Torres ONM (née da Silva; born 16 October 1929), known by her stage name Fernanda Montenegro ( eɦˈnɐ̃dɐ mõtʃiˈnegɾu, is a Brazilian actress. Considered by many as the greatest Brazilian actress of all time, ...

. Roberto Alvim called her "dirty" and "liar" in a Facebook post.

Goebbels' speech

On 16 January 2020, while holding the office of Special Culture Secretary from the Ministry of Tourism, Alvim published a video on the Secretary's official

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account in which he paraphrases excerpts from a speech by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's ''Reichsminister'' of Propaganda. The fact that excerpts from

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...

'' were used as the soundtrack for his video was taken by some commentators as an allusion to

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. The video soon after caused public uproar, and was deleted the following day. In response, Alvim posted a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

update in which he states he "hasn't cited anyone" and that the whole incident was a mere "rhetorical coincidence". Following the public's reaction, on 17 January 2020, Alvim was fired. Addressing the controversy, president

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

stated: "I repeat our rejection of totalitarian and genocidal ideologies, as well as any allusion to it".

Regina Duarte Regina Blois Duarte (born 5 February 1947) is a Brazilian actress who briefly served as Special Secretary of Culture, a cabinet position in President Jair Bolsonaro's federal administration, from March to May 2020. Political activities Her effo ...

was subsequently invited to be Special Secretary of Culture, succeeding Alvim, but she did not immediately accept the job.

Personal life

Alvim became a born-again Christian during a struggle with cancer.

References

1973 births Living people Brazilian theatre directors Far-right politics in Brazil Neo-Nazism in Brazil Fascism in Brazil Brazilian fascists {{Brazil-bio-stub