A São Paulo mayoral debate turned into a WWE wrestling match when one of the candidates, a news anchor named José Luiz Datena, attacked his opponent Pablo Marçal, a far-right Instagram influencer who is also a former news anchor, with a chair.
The debate, which was being broadcast live, devolved into chaos after Marçal brought up a 2019 sexual harassment allegation against Datena. The exchange became heated and then boiled over when Datena attacked Marçal with a metal chair. Marçal was taken to the hospital to treat a fractured rib along with a few other minor injuries. He has since been discharged.
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The debate was already pretty heated before an innocent chair was brought into it. Marçal is something of a Trump-like figure, known for saying a lot of inflammatory, provocative stuff. For instance, during the debate, Marçal mentioned that Datena probably wanted to slap him but that he wasn’t “even man enough to do this.” Datena tried to prove him wrong.
The sexual harassment accusation against Datena was withdrawn by the accuser and never led to charges. His polling numbers are currently in the toilet, and will probably be even lower now that he was expelled from a debate for using the illegal debate tactic of pummeling your opponent with the chair. Or maybe they skyrocket? Who knows?
In fact, neither of them is polling especially well. The debate included other candidates, including the incumbent Ricardo Nunes and the leftist Guilherme Boulos, who are both the actual leaders of the race.
Marçal’s campaign has announced plans for legal action against Datena. Meanwhile, Datena expressed regret over his violent outburst.
