Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro canceled a trip to the United States to receive an award after protests from “interest groups” including environmental and gay rights organizations.
Gay rights groups complained about his visit after comments Bolsonaro had made last month reported in the Brazilian magazine Exame.
“If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life,” Bolsonaro said. “But we can’t let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families.”
Bolsonaro was set to be honored with a man of the year award at a gala dinner at the American Museum of Natural History. Major sponsors including the Financial Times, Delta Air Lines, and Bain & Co. had pulled their support, putting pressure on Bolsonaro to cancel his trip.
Environmental groups also helped lead the boycott after some expressed concerns that Bolsonaro wants to loosen regulations and allow more destruction of the Amazon forest.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio helped back the effort calling Bolsonaro “a very dangerous human being.”
Spokesperson Gen. Otávio Rêgo Barros said Bolsonaro was pulling out of the event because of “the resistance and deliberate attacks by the mayor of New York and the pressure of interest groups.”
