Electoral Judge Orders Lula Ad Showcasing Rival Bolsonaro’s ‘Cannibalism’ Taken Down

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva nearly beat his right-wing opponent, Jair Bolsonaro, in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election last Sunday and hopes to secure enough votes to succeed in the run-off election between the rivals set for October 30.

Lula’s campaign appears to be digging deep in the archives for dirt on Bolsonaro in its effort to win over voters before the next election, using the information found to create ads slamming the incumbent.

In one advertisement, Bolsonaro mocks covid victims by pretending to gasp for air, and in another, he shoves a female politician and calls her a “bitch”. But the most recent ad, released on Friday caused an electoral judge to order Lula’s campaign to withdraw it on the grounds that it “risked damaging Bolsonaro’s reputation and affecting the ‘integrity of the electoral process”.

In a video of an interview from 2016 that’s since gone viral, the Brazillian president admits that he’d consume human flesh–a startling statement, even coming from a politician who has called for the shooting of political rivals, vocalized support for corporal punishment, and publicly commended convicted torturers.

“I’d eat an Indian, no problem at all,” bragged Bolsonaro, in the midst of recounting a trip to an Indigenous community where he describes being offered the chance to consume human flesh.

Originally posted to his official YouTube channel, the video has been weaponized by his opposition as a testament to the Latin president’s wickedness.

“I saw the footage … It’s no invention, we’re simply letting people know what our opponent is like,” he told supporters, claiming foreigners were shunning Brazil “for fear of the cannibal”.

The statements in Lula's campaign video are accompanied by a mournful voice warning that "Bolsonaro would eat human flesh. Brazil can't take any more Bolsonaro," the video concludes.

Lula denied spreading any misinformation, and Indigenous leaders have rejected Bolsonaro’s statement, denying tribal acts of cannibalism and expressing their outrage towards the president’s “disrespect for human beings”.

“My people aren’t cannibals. . .this [practice] doesn’t exist nor has it ever existed, not even among our ancestors,” a Yanomami activist told local newspapers.

Officials from Bolsonaro’s party have decried the Lula ad as “fake news” and claim that the interview was distorted to suit Lula’s needs. The incumbent has recently toned down his rhetoric

at the behest of campaign advisors bent on seeing him re-elected.

Despite ruling that the ad be removed from play, social media commentators have run wild with memes of “Cannibal Bolsonaro” circulating various platforms likening the president to both real and imagined serial killers.

In the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, which took place on Oct. 2, Bolsonaro outperformed polls, which skewed strongly in Lula’s favor, to secure just over 43% of the vote.