The former head of Globo’s humor department, Marcius Melhem, has recorded a video in which he criticizes the existence of a meeting between the Minister for Women, Cida Gonçalves, and the actresses who accuse him of harassment, which is scheduled to take place next Tuesday ( 4). As expected by the column, the invitation came from the head of the portfolio.
Melhem says he is the target of an attempt to put political pressure on the case. And without naming President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and his relationship with Operation Lava Jato, he is questioning the government for supporting the initiative that allegedly blames him.
“It is obvious that the minister receives whoever she wants, but I must warn against some absurdities in this situation. First, this government has suffered and fought, warning of the pretrial, abandonment of the presumption of innocence, and the issue of parity of arms. There is a rite in due process,” he says in the note shared with the column.
“I’m not even a defendant. There is no criminal prosecution against me. Even if it comes to that one day and I become a defendant, I’m still not guilty because there’s no final decision, there’s no verdict, nothing. There is no nothing. There is a preliminary investigation to see if these allegations make sense. And then, yes, the prosecution will decide if I’m a defendant,” he continues.
Lula, who was imprisoned in Curitiba for 580 days after denouncing and convicting Lava Jato, always said he was innocent and a victim of a political persecution led by former judge and now Senator Sergio Moro (União BrasilPR), in the his presumption of innocence applied.
During the meeting between the actresses and the minister, which will take place in Brasilia next week, they should be presented with a proposal for building a normative framework against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Among the guests who have already confirmed their attendance at the meeting are actresses Dani Calabresa, Maria Clara Gueiros, Georgiana Góes, Veronica Debom and Renata Ricci, screenwriters Carolina Warchavsky and Luciana Fregolente, and director Cininha de Paula.
For Melhem, her complainants are trying to use the meeting to “put the focus of the case on the matter.” “Rolling out a red carpet for these women legitimizes an unproven allegation,” he says. “This is a media ploy, a political pressure ploy that wants to expend all the energy that could be expended to get the process going, shut down everything here and target public opinion to create an uproar, a scenario that Putting pressure on the judiciary to find an excuse to accuse me.”
The former director of Globo still claims that whistleblowers are blocking the investigation. He said the trial was due to close in August last year, but the alleged victims asked for new witnesses to be heard, causing the trial to be postponed.
These witnesses, in turn, had not visited the police station until then. “It’s the only case where the defendant wants to try and the prosecutor delays the trial. Why? Because the files showed that this should be archived,” he says.
Melhem also says that he supports a discussion about creating a framework to tackle workplace harassment, but that he does not think it is appropriate for his complainants to be involved.
“What I’m trying to say is that there’s a clear attempt to shift focus from the case to the cause. It’s a shame that people don’t have access to what’s here in the courts of Rio de Janeiro. But, one day they will have it,” he concludes.
Defense of courted actresses says Melhem wants to silence them. “Mr Marcius Melhem’s attempts to silence him continue and are appalling. Again, his posture rigorously reflects who he is and how he acts,” attorneys Mayra Cotta, Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, Kakay, Marcelo Turbay and Davi Tangerine say in a note.
“With the utmost audacity, he is attempting to prevent women from meeting to discuss a highly relevant national agenda: the urgent need for a new normative framework to address sexual harassment in the workplace. He confuses political pressure with the exercise of citizenship by women. he must be really hard to understand. Regrettable,” they conclude.
The invitation to the meeting came from the Lula government at a time when the case was making the news again. Last week, in an interview with journalist Guilherme Amado of the Metrópoles website, four women and seven witnesses in the Marcius Melhem case revealed their identities for the first time and reinforced allegations of sexual harassment against the former director.
According to the group, the decision was made because the victims would go through a discrediting process led by Melhem.
Dani Calabresa was joined by actresses Renata Ricci, Georgiana Góes, Veronica Debom and Maria Clara Gueiros, screenwriters Luciana Fregolente and Carolina Warchavsky, directors Mauro Farias and Cininha de Paula, and actors Marcelo Adnet, Dani’s exhusband, and Edward Sterblitch .
In one video, the actresses claim that Melhem forced French kisses, leaned on colleagues with an erect penis and manipulated his subordinates as if it were all nothing more than a joke during the recording.
Melhem denies all allegations, although he believes he could have acted differently. “Perspectively, I behaved and made jokes that I wouldn’t make as a boss,” he said. “I’ve never touched an erect penis or forced a kiss, there’s a lot of fun in the humorous environment.” At one point, the actor came to dismiss the allegation of sexual harassment as a coup.
The first complaint against Melhem was filed by actress Dani Calabresa in 2019. However, it was kept secret and went public without much fanfare as a case of moral harassment.
The following year, attorney Mayra Cotta, representing 12 people, told the column that Melhem had been violent towards the actresses. And he reported on a number of allegations against him, most of them related to sexual harassment.
GRAMOPHONE
Rapper Karol Conká took part on Tuesday (28th) in the event “Inside the Latin Grammy” presenting the news of the Latin Grammy 2023, which took place at the YouTube headquarters in São Paulo. Rapper Criolo was there. Altafonte Sales Manager Alex Schiavo and Sony ATV Music Publishing Brazil General Manager Aloysio Reis also attended.
with CLEO GUIMARES (provisionally)BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH