Brazilian President Cancels Trip to New York Following Protests

Brazil’s deeply homophobic and anti-LGBT+ president Jair Bolsonaro has cancelled a trip to New York, reports Reuters.

Bolsonaro was due to receive the person of the year award by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerceat a gala in New York City.

The choice of President Bolsonaro is a recognition of his strongly stated intention of fostering closer commercial and diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States and his firm commitment to building a strong and durable partnership between the two nations,” the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commercesaid of their choice.

Intense backlash and protest of Bolsonaro receiving the award forced several sponsors of the event to drop out, including media organisation The Financial Times, consulting firm Bain & Company and Delta airlines.

“Encouraging and celebrating diversity is a core Bain principle,” Bain & Company said in a statement.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasioalso criticised the choice of Bolsonaro as person of the year, telling the New York Post: “He’s dangerous not just because of his overt racism and homophobia, but because he is unfortunately the person with the most ability to be able to impact what happens in the Amazon going forward.”

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