Popular Brazilian singer Anitta has been the subject of intense backlash over the release of a music video that highlights the deep-seated religious intolerance and racism in Brazil.
The controversy began on Monday when the 31-year-old pop star shared a preview of the video for her new song “Aceita” (Portuguese for “Accept”) with her 65 million followers on Instagram. He reportedly lost 200,000 followers within two hours.
This video depicts the practice of her faith, Candomblé. Her Instagram account featured images of the artist in religious costume alongside Candomblé priests, as well as still images of religious objects and other iconography related to the faith.
Candomblé is considered a syncretic religion, meaning that it is derived from different faiths and traditions.
It evolved from a mix of Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu beliefs brought to what is now Brazil by enslaved West African people during the colonial expansion of the Portuguese empire, scholars said.
A 2022 U.S. Department of State report on religious freedom in Brazil found that Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé, despite being practiced by only 2 percent of the population, have the highest incidence of reported religious intolerance. They account for a disproportionate number of cases.
For centuries, Candomblé was relegated to the shadows. In a predominantly Catholic society, it was considered satanic magic and a public danger.
Ana Paulina Lee, a professor of Latin American and Iberian culture at Columbia University, said: “The witchcraft law was hidden in public health law, so it was prosecuted on the premise that it was harmful to public health.”
Despite the backlash this week, the response to Anitta's video was overwhelmingly positive. Many praised her respect for religion.
Still, critics flocked to her Instagram post.
“This is pure magic and even a layman can tell it's devil worship,” one person wrote in Portuguese.
Her black-and-white video depicts other faiths, such as Catholicism, and the lyrics seem to broadly talk about themes of acceptance, suggesting the song is a commentary on religious intolerance.
Anitta, born Larissa Machado, burst onto the scene in 2013 with the Portuguese-written pop song “Mayga e Absada,” which became a huge hit in Brazil.
She released several albums in the 2010s and cemented her popularity with her performance at the 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremony in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro.
After releasing several Spanish-language hits featuring famous reggaeton artists such as J Balvin, Anitta established herself among Latin American audiences. She was part of a wave of Latin American artists who successfully broke into the U.S. market.
On Tuesday, Anitta appeared on NBC's “The Voice,” and this month she joined Madonna at a free show in Rio de Janeiro that drew 1.6 million fans. Last year, Anitta performed at the MTV Video Music Awards and she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. She will perform on the main stage of the Coachella music festival in 2022.
As she has become a celebrity, Anitta has openly addressed questions regarding her faith.
In 2018, when she faced criticism for not condemning Brazil's newly elected far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, Anitta said she was required to stay in isolation for several weeks as part of her induction into Candomblé.
This faith, characterized by percussive rituals and festivals in praise of several gods, has been forced underground since its inception.
At one point, Professor Lee said, medical practitioners concealed their practices by adopting Catholic iconography.
Luis Nicolau Parés, a professor of anthropology at Brazil's Federal University of Bahia, believes mainstream society has begun to tolerate expressions of Candomblé in order to recognize Brazil's African heritage and foster a stronger Brazilian national identity. said that it was only after the beginning of the 20th century. , who wrote a book about Candomblé.
Brazilian artists and intellectuals of the 1970s and 1980s embraced and celebrated the religion. Government officials also acknowledged this.
At the same time, Brazil's evangelical Christian population has skyrocketed, rising from a single-digit share of the population in 1991 to 26 percent in 2022. The rise of neo-Pentecostal churches contributed to a resurgence of anti-Candomblé sentiment.
“It was demonized in a way so that people would convert and convert to Christianity,” Professor Palace said of Candomblé.
As acts of violence and discrimination continue to target Candomblé and other Afro-Brazilian religions, activists point to racial issues and say they are closely connected.
Prof Lee said Anitta had said in social media posts that she had been the subject of “religious racism”. The term was introduced by Candomblé leaders to describe acts of religious intolerance against Afro-Brazilian beliefs.
“What happened to Anitta happens every day,” Professor Lee said, pointing to last year's famous murder of the priestess of Candomblé.
“This is not new, but I think it's really important to show that this is part of a really long history of anti-Black racism and it's not just about skin,” she said. Told.
“When you pursue your faith, you are pursuing your soul,” she added.
leonardo coelho Contributed to the report.
