LETTER FROM RIO
It’s a ranking that speaks volumes. In September 2020, the American magazine Time unveiled its prestigious list of the hundred most influential personalities in the world in 2020. Two names of Brazilians are then on the list: alongside the very controversial president of the country, Jair Bolsonaro, is also a young man of 33 years, Felipe Neto, YouTuber by profession, shy smile, dark eyes, brown mane, left arm tattooed with a mysterious owl. Two Brazilians, face to face.
Unknown internationally, the man is nevertheless one of the most popular personalities in the country. Judge for yourself: with more than 41 million subscribers on the streaming video-sharing website (to which we can add 13 million followers on Twitter and as many on Instagram), Felipe Neto is by all rankings the one of the ten most followed and influential youtubers on the planet.
His strike force online, the young Internet user now directs it entirely against his worst opponent: Jair Bolsonaro, his ranking companion of the Time, a “Harmful and violent figure” according to him.
Destruction of the environment, inaction in the face of Covid-19, homophobia, accusations of corruption, apology for torture … the reasons justifying his opposition are not lacking. “ I could continue this list until 2035 but it would not fit in your article ”, explains the YouTuber, who chose to answer the questions of the World in writing.
Descended for two years in the political arena, the young man now multiplies the interviews and the positions taken against his pet peeve, which he treats of “Fascist”. Invited by the prestigious political program “Roda Viva” in May 2020, he also published in July of the same year, on the site of New York Times, an opinion video, in English.
Daily death threats
In November, the YouTuber took a new step in his commitment, publicly calling through social networks to vote for several candidates of the alternative left. “ I am a social democrat. I defend capitalism. I believe in private initiative but, at the same time, I defend the action of the State to reduce inequalities ”, explains Felipe Neto.
All this can sometimes seem a little light on the bottom, even hollow. Whatever: Felipe Neto speaks simple and true, seduces and convinces, especially among the youngest. For many, he would even today be the best opponent to Jair Bolsonaro, “One of the most effective” even, according to left-wing Rio deputy David Miranda, who signed his biography in the Time. Bitter proof of success: the YouTuber today receives dozens of death threats every day. “I never answer”, insists Felipe Neto, who swears never to close his online accounts, “ because that is precisely what they seek to obtain from me: my silence ”.
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